The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series resumes this weekend in Sydney, Australia, and marks the fifth stop on the women’s circuit. The Eagles finished 5th at last weekend’s Hamilton 7s and moved from 3rd to 4th in the series standings, falling two points against Canada, which finished runner-up to New Zealand on Sunday.
The two North American teams are placed into Pool B of the Sydney 7s and are joined by Fiji and Brazil, which finished 8th and 12th, respectively, in Hamilton. Again, since this series stop includes both men’s and women’s competitions, the tournament is truncated. The quarterfinal round is eliminated, and thus the three pool winners and the best 2nd-place team advance directly to the Cup semifinals. The remainder of the field funnels directly into placing matches.
USA Pool Play Games
(All times ET)
FRIDAY, JAN 31
5:30 p.m. v Fiji
SATURDAY, FEB 1
1:08 a.m. v Brazil
5:07 p.m. v Canada
The placing matches begin at 10:08 p.m. Saturday. If the Eagles win Pool B, then they’ll play Pool C’s winner (likely France or Australia) at 1:36 a.m. Sunday. If the USA is the best 2nd-place team, then it will play the Pool A winner (likely New Zealand) at 1:58 a.m. Sunday. The final is at 4:26 a.m. Sunday and all games can be viewed live on NBC Sports Gold. See the full schedule.