The USA Men’s Sevens squad are settled in Singapore for the next stop on the 2023 World Rugby Seven Series. With three stops left, the team will look to improve on their current ninth place ranking and aim for another spot in the knockout stages.
Fresh off a busy weekend in Hong Kong, the Dawgs landed in Singapore Monday evening and have immediately jumped into training sessions for this weekend. Another challenging pool awaits the team, with matches against Uruguay, Kenya, and France that will decide whether the men will head to another quarterfinal. HSBC Singapore Sevens kicks off Friday, April 7, live on Peacock.
After a few days of travel and recovery following the Hong Kong Sevens, the USA squad is ramping up for three Pool C matches against Uruguay, Kenya, and France in Singapore. The Dawgs kick off their weekend with Uruguay, who sits 12th in the World Series standings. The two teams last met in Hamilton and Sydney, where the USA won both matches. Uruguay pose a threat with more experience as full time series regulars now under their belt, while the USA will look to notch their first win heading into the weekend. Next, the team meets the always physical Kenya, who they last played and defeated 26-21 in Los Angeles. The USA will hope to widen the score gap to gain an edge towards a quarterfinals.
The team’s last matchup on Saturday is against France, the 2024 Olympic hosts who sit fourth in the World Series standings. The two teams have only met once this season in Hamilton, where the USA won the bronze medal in a close 15-14 game. Fresh off their own bronze medal finish in Hong Kong, France will also be eyeing quarterfinals in the hopes of getting to another medal final.
David Still, who was cited last week for a head-to-head contact in a match against South Africa, will sit out of the tournament.
“We have a tough assignment ahead this weekend where we will need to medal to keep our automatic Olympic qualification opportunity alive. Last weekend was a mixed bag once again by ourselves where small inaccuracies in attack in big moments allowed the opposition to stop our momentum or stopped us from taking advantage of that momentum. We only really showed that in the Australia game and it is a huge area of development for us as these little things are the difference between winning and losing. We were really pleased with our defensive efforts and application throughout the weekend. Once again it was small individual errors as opposed to system or collective understanding that hurt us in defense. We are of course frustrated that we are not progressing deeper into tournaments but committed and focused to persevere in each and every game in what is a fiercely contested Mens World Series, where anyone can beat anyone. Uruguay first up who pushed very hard last week in all their games and will be a hugely physical affair, followed by Kenya who are hugely unpredictable, powerful and athletic. Finally we will meet the inform France team who are a very tall athletic team who play a fluid offloading game when allowed to.”
| Name | Position | HSBC Tournaments |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aaron Cummings | Forward | 11 |
| 5. Joe Schroeder | Forward | 29 |
| 6. Kevon Williams (C) | Halfback/Wing | 44 |
| 7. Naima Fuala’au | Halfback | 22 |
| 8. Malacchi Esdale | Wing/Center | 15 |
| 9. Stephen Tomasin | Utility | 51 |
| 10. Faitala Talapusi | Halfback | 16 |
| 11. Perry Baker | Wing/Center | 64 |
| 12. Lucas Lacamp | Center | 10 |
| 14. Marcus Tupuola | Halfback/Center | 22 |
| 15. Gavan D'Amore | Forward | 17 |
| 16. Adam Channel | Forward | 9 |
| 25. Pita Vi | Halfback | 1 |
Head Coach | Mike Friday
Performance Analyst | Dave Gardner
Strength & Conditioning | Josh Schnell
Athletic Trainer | Bobby Gragston
Team Manager | Scott Novack
Friday, April 7
v. Uruguay | 10:58 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 8
v. Kenya | 2:24 a.m. ET (Friday night)
v. France | 6:35 a.m. ET
Knockouts begin 10:50 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 9
Knockouts continue
