The USA Men's Sevens kicked off Olympic competition in Paris with their first two pool play games against France and Fiji. The squad ended with a 12-12 draw against the hosts and a 12-38 loss against reigning Olympic champions Fiji
The full crowd at Stade de France was electric at Stade de France, and Lucas Lacamp and Marcus Tupuola scored the first USA tries of the 2024 Olympics, helping them earn 12 points against France with Stephen Tomasin's conversion. Lucas Lacamp and Orrin Bizer each had two try-saving tackles in the try zone that proved crucial to the final score.
Heading into their second pool match against Fiji, the USA looked ready to go, with Orrin Bizer scoring the first try of the match on the wing. But it would be the last time the USA saw the try zone in the first half, with Fiji dominating the rest of the game. The fast, physical Fijian squad put up 38 points in their dominant 14-minute span, but not before Perry Baker could find the find from a solid offload by Madison Hughes, who converted Baker's try.
Game play continues tomorrow with the men's final pool match against Uruguay at 9am ET, live on Peacock and USA.
"We messed up back in Tokyo, didn't come out of the quarterfinal with a win, so sometimes you want to give it one more push. That's why we're back. Tokyo didn't have a single seat filled, and playing here, not a single seat was empty. Not all the fans are here for us, but we still feed off that energy.
"There are a lot of athletes in the village, we get to communicate and see a lot of people. We haven't been able to do too much because we play first so we're a little more serious now. We have about four days and then we can enjoy the real Olympic experience. Until then, we're focused in, zeroed in, trying to get us a medal."
"It was decent results against France given the circumstances. The scoring is a little different than our regular season. Usually we play extra time to see who wins, but here we get two points for a draw, so that's better than a loss. It's a decent result but I think we left it on the table, I think we should've won that game. We didn't take care of the ball really well. We played a lot of really good defense, but we left one out there. In the end we got two points so it's a start.
"There aren't many chances you get to play in the Stade de France. This is an iconic rugby stadium, and to open up a tournament against the hosts ... a packed stadium and an Olympic opener ... it's what you dream about."
Wednesday, July 24
v France | 12-12 (Draw)
Tries | L. Lacamp, M. Tupuola
Conversions | S. Tomasin
v Fiji | 12-38 (L)
Tries | O. Bizer, P. Baker
Conversions | M. Hughes
Thursday, July 25
v Uruguay | 9am ET
Knockouts begin 2pm ET
Saturday, July 27
Knockouts continue beginning 8:30am ET
All matches will be live on Peacock TV with select games on NBC networks.
