The USA Men's Sevens secured their qualification for the HSBC SVNS Division 2 with a thrilling and undefeated performance at the HSBC SVNS World Championships held this weekend at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.
The Eagles dominated their pool, winning all three matches against Portugal, Samoa, and culminating in a breathtaking golden try victory in their final pool game against Kenya. Coming off a building season fraught with injury, the USA Men's Eagles have demonstrated incredible grit, skill, and teamwork throughout the weekend, and their qualification for the SVNS Division 2 signals an exciting chapter for the program in the upcoming season.
Head Coach, Simon Amor said looking back on the season, “It’s been a challenging one, We made a lot of mistakes but also brought in a whole lot of learning. We’re brought a lot of new players into the program, and it shows just how much excitement there is in the program going forward.”
Aaron Cummings added, “This has been new for all of us. New coach, new culture, new system, new everything. It took a while for us to get accustomed to that, but we ended up finishing on a high note here in LA in front of friends and family. It kind of just summed up our whole season, just fight through everything, fight through the adversity and we’ll see each of us on the other side.”
The Eagles kicked off their campaign against Portugal with a dominant first-half display. Lucas Lacamp lit the scoreboard with an early try, followed by a quickfire double from fellow UCLA alumnus Ben Broselle. Jake Broselle then joined the scoring spree just before halftime, completing a "Broselle Brother hat trick" of tries. On the restart, Portugal swung the momentum dotting down 3 times and holding off the USA defensively. Despite the USA going scoreless in the second half, the USA's early efforts were enough to secure the hard-fought victory 26-15.
Match two saw the Eagles face Samoa in another high-octane encounter. Ben Broselle and Lucas Lacamp once again started strong, putting the USA ahead. Samoa responded with two quick tries, testing the American defense. However, the USA capitalized on a Samoan yellow card, and shifted the ball wide for Lacamp to score in the corner just before the break. Stephen Tomasin added another try before the sin bin expired, and followed by another from Lacamp to complete his hat-trick. Samoa fought back, scoring again, but another card, this time a red to Opetai, allowed the USA to maintain their lead while denying Samoa a bonus point with a 25-19 victory.
The energy was palpable in the final pool match against Kenya with both teams vying for a qualification spot. The US gifted Kenya an early advantage when Lucas Lacamp was sin-binned for an intentional knock-on, allowing the African side to score two quick tries. However, the USA showed their resilience, winning a lineout and regaining possession. Stephen Tomasin kept composure with a pass from the base of the ruck to Porter Goodrum, who powered over the try line just before halftime. A high tackle put Kenya in the sin bin, and it was now the USA’s turn to exploit the extra space. Lacamp found Jake Broselle out wide with a lobbed skip pass allowing him to score in the corner. After the restart, pressure was seen with handling errors on both sides counting down the clock into extra time.
The Eagles won the crucial toss and elected to receive the ball, needing to secure the golden try to clinch victory and qualification. Kenya managed to get hand on their own kick off and gain possession, but a brilliant rip by Tomasin turned the ball back over to the USA. Tomasin then shifted the ball to Porter Goodrum, who dummied into space and soared over the try line, sending the USA players and crown into rapturous celebrations with a 17-12 win.
Having secured their SVNS Division 2 Qualification the USA Men’s Eagles now will get chane to regroup and before they ramp up the next phase of foundation building they cemented this season.
| NAME | HSBC Tournaments |
|---|---|
| 1. Aaron Cummings | 29 |
| 2. Ben Broselle | 23 |
| 4. Adam Channel | 18 |
| 7. Peter Sio Jr. | 6 |
| 9. Stephen Tomasin | 64 |
| 12. Lucas Lacamp | 27 |
| 13. Jack Wendling | 12 |
| 14. Ryans Santos | 4 |
| 16. Uluamu Niutupuivaha | 3 |
| 20. Jake Broselle | 5 |
| 22. Porter Goodrum | 3 |
| 27. Marcus Tupuola | 39 |
Simon Amor | Head Coach
Josh Schnell | Strength & Conditioning
Delaney Cassidy | Athletic Trainer
Liz Strohecker | Head of Operations - Sevens
USA vs Portugal | 26-15 (W)
Tries: L. Lacamp, B. Broselle (2), J. Broselle
Conv: L. Lacamp, S. Tomasin (2)
USA vs Samoa | 25-19 (W)
Tries: L. Lacamp (3), B. Broselle, S. Tomasin
Conv: L. Lacamp, S. Tomasin (2)
USA vs Kenya | 17 -12 (W)
Tries: P. Goodrum (2), J. Broselle
Conv: L. Lacamp
