Photo: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
The USA dropped their first match at Dubai 7s, falling 24-7 to New Zealand in the Cup semifinals. The Eagles will now play Australia at 8:38 a.m. EST for 3rd place.
New Zealand’s pool play experience resembled the USA’s first day at Glendale 7s, where a loss to France sharpened the teams’ performances for knockout rugby. The Black Ferns eliminated Fiji 24-10 in today’s Cup quarterfinals, while the Eagles advanced to the Cup semifinals after a 28-7 victory over Russia.
Photo: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
In the desert, New Zealand punished every USA mistake in the first half, immediately building solid phases with crisp passes, decisive running and little confusion. When it came time for the 1 v 1, New Zealand won that battle with superb footwork and the finishing speed to celebrate with tries.
The USA kept the opening kickoff and Ilona Maher took a hard run into the middle, but New Zealand was quick over the ball for the not-releasing penalty. Kelly Brazier got the ball to Stacy Waaka, who deked Nicole Heavirland and got play back into the middle of the field. As the attack crossed into the USA’s 22, Naya Tapper nearly drew Shakira Baker into the touch but the prop sent a messy pass back inside to Theresa Fitzpatrick, and Tyla Nathan-Wong cleaned it up for the fast-paced try, 5-0.
Photo: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
Nathan-Wong kicked the first of two not-10 restarts, and another Maher power run through the middle drew an advantageous penalty. But the subsequent kick didn’t find touch and New Zealand went back to work from its 22. At midfield, a hard-cutting Niall Williams – who was superb on the day – opened up a big gap in the defense, and Brazier switched right into it. Lauren Doyle couldn’t close quick enough and flyhalf was away for a sixth try in Dubai, 12-0 with the Nathan-Wong conversion.
Kristen Thomas took the restart well and Maher dummied through the middle for looked like a promising build. But the pass to Doyle was knocked on. New Zealand reset with the scrum and extended its time on attack after a high tackle penalty. Ruby Tui set up Waaka for a 1 v 1 against Kristi Kirshe, and a nasty step put the finisher out of reach for the try, 19-0 into the break.
Photo: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
New Zealand got into a little bit of penalty trouble in the second half, but the Americans were not connecting. There was some indecision in where the next pass was going to go, and balls hit the ground. When go-forward halted, aggressive defenders pounced and Williams forced a turnover when holding up Doyle, who was cleaning up an errant pass. From the New Zealand scrum, no one was at home and scrumhalf Nathan-Wong scooped up the ball, looped around the strong side and scored without any contest, 24-0.
The game was out of reach at this point but the Eagles kept working. A penalty allowed Alev Kelter to kick to touch and set up the lineout, and then north-south carries from Kelter, Kirshe, Abby Gustaitis and Jordan Gray-Matyas pushed the team closer to the try line. The ball moved wide to Thomas, who did very well to keep the ball in play while being driven into touch. The ball reached Heavirland, who looped past the on-rushing Alena Siali for the try, which the scrumhalf converted: 24-7 the final.