Photo: P Yates / World Rugby
The USA 7s team finished 1-1-1 after day one of the Edmonton Fast Four, dropping a 29-19 contest to Great Britain in round three. The Eagles will retake the pitch tomorrow at 11:04 a.m. MDT to play second-seeded Canada in the semifinals.
A knock-on and offsides penalty at the ruck put Great Britain in the USA’s end. Amy Wilson Hardy took the ball off the ruck, dummied the first defender and slipped through Nana Fa’avesi and Steph Rovetti, who were both coming in for the low tackle. Emma Uren converted for the 7-0 lead.
The USA responded with back-to-back tries. Jaz Gray took the restart and took off sideways, but Sui A’au straightened up for some meters and connected with Sarah Levy coming around. Nice, quick hands before the tackle saw Rovetti speed down the sideline for the try, converted by Kayla Canett, 7-all.
Great Britain erred on the restart and Summer Harris-Jones recovered the ball. There was an overload out wide but the defense did just enough to prevent Levy from the getting the pass off to Canett, preventing a sure try. Great Britain regrouped with a scrum on its own 40, but a quick tackle from Harris-Jones allowed Rovetti to get hands on the ball and not-releasing penalty. The Eagles called for the scrum and Canett took that nice hard line around the set piece, pinning Abbie Brown before hitting Fa’avesi in the gap. The captain pushed off Uren and dotted down for the try, 12-7.
It looked like another opportunity for the USA, when its restart was able to find ground deep in Great Britain’s end. Instead, the ball moved to Jasmine Joyce, who slipped out of Harris-Jones’ grasp and then pushed off Rovetti for the tying points, 12-12 into the break.
The Eagles were a much bigger part of the conversation then they had been last weekend against Great Britain, but then the Vancouver champs piled on the pressure defense in the second half, and that produced more opportunity. Levy set up Rovetti for a big break, drawing in two defenders then freeing hands for the pass. Joyce tracked down Rovetti at the first meter and then committed no players to the ruck, so it could absorb the American attack. Eventually, support was a little slow to a carry forward, and Great Britain’s Abi Burton turned over the ball. From a five-meter scrum, Uren pushed off Canett, shifting the defense just enough to give Joyce a half step on the sideline. It was all the Welsh winger needed to burn down the sideline for the try, 17-12.
The Great Britain defense forced a ball-handling error but two passes off the subsequent scrum, and the ball was on the ground. Two USA defenders rushed forward and then in a last-ditch effort, Burton kicked the ball off the ground in Celia Quanash’s general direction. Magically it bounced into the prop’s hands and Quanash fended a high tackle attempt into the try zone, 22-12.
The Eagles hadn’t found an answer for Great Britain’s fast-up defense, that is, until Lote Tausinga took the pitch. From a ruck near the sideline, Alena Olsen sent a flat pass to Tausinga, who took the perfect angle against a defense that couldn’t react at that speed. The teenager flew down the pitch for her third try of the tournament. Olsen converted for the 22-19.
There was time for one last kickoff. All Great Britain had to do was kick it to touch, and that would seal a first-place seed into tomorrow’s semifinals. Instead, Heather Cowell took the pass and had a go, beating two defenders and scoring beneath the posts. She added her own conversion as well for the 29-19 final.
Sunday’s semifinals replicate those from Vancouver, but the teams are certainly different, and better, than a week ago. The gap has closed on Great Britain as the Younger Canadian and American squads have banked more confidence. And the same goes for Mexico, which ended its day with two tries against Canada – one coming from American San Juanita Fetuuaho.
USA 19
Tries: Rovetti, Fa’avesi, Tausinga
Cons: Canett, Olsen