The USA women's sevens team finished off it 2016-17 season with a sixth-place finish in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and still plenty of questions.

The Eagles' issues were on stark display over the weekend as the USA showed itself to be good enough to beat Ireland and a lesser foe such as Japan but still struggled to hang with the likes of New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji.

At issue is the lack of pace in the Eagles' less-speedy players. (Naya Tapper is very quick, and Jessica Javelet is elusive and fast. But what about the rest?) And also at issue is a distinct lack of power in a women's game that still goes into a ton of contact. Finally, for the USA team as a whole, constant changes, especially in roster spots Nos. 9-12, have meant that the Eagles don't have a cohesive team.



The final game of the season was a bit of a microcosm of this problem. The USA showed flashes of brilliance in its 24-19 loss to Fiji in the fifth-place final, only to fall afoul of curious tactical decisions -- mostly when the Eagles had numbers to score on the outside and instead opted to run into tacklers who were usually larger than the USA player doing the running. The Eagles led early but could not contain Fiji's offload game. And it wasn't because Fiji was any great shakes; it was more that small USA players insisted on tackling around the ankles and using their body weight to try to bring down the Fijian runners. 

The USA's loss allowed Fiji to finish fourth in the World Series and relegated the Eagles to sixth. Had the USA won that game, both Fiji and the Eagles would have tied for fifth, behind Russia. It's a fitting spot for the Eagles -- just out of the money. They are in a bloc of four teams with essentially the same points record -- Fiji, Russia, USA, and France -- and all four are miles behind New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

(Normally you'd expect to see England in one of those groups, but the English decided to go on a rebuilding tear in the final tournaments and finished a distant eighth.)

However, it's worth pointing out that if you discount the opening tournament in Dubai, were the USA finished 11th out of 12 teams, then the Eagles outperformed all three of those squads near them in the final standings. For 2017-18, the USA team needs a little more movement off the ball in the middle of the field. It also needs more size in its lineup -- perhaps Sara Parsons can build on a good tournament in France and be paired with Cheta Emba in the future -- and the team must be stronger in contact on offense and defense.

And then, maybe we can clear up some confusion. Alev Kelter hasn't started recently for the USA and was replaced as captain, and yet World Rugby picked her as one of the top seven players for the season. Kelter is one of the players who is dominating in contact; World Rugby thinks she should play more.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/kelteralev/status/879189707376082948" hide_media="0" hide_thread="0"]
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/WorldRugby7s/status/879056240982331392" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

Right now, the teams that are winning everything have that added power and overall team athleticism. The USA needs to develop more of that to be a World Cup contender.

Clermont-Ferrand USA Games

Pool Play

USA 12, Ireland 7
Tries: Carlyle, Tapper
Convs: Heavirland

USA 33, Japan 5
Tries: Kelter, Fa'avesi, Perry, Emba
Convs: Heavirland 3

New Zealand 19, USA 14
Tries: Tapper 2
Convs: Kelter, Heavirland

Cup QF

Australia 31, USA 14
Tries: Carlyle, Tapper
Convs: Heavirland 2

5th-Place Semi

USA 31, Ireland 14
Tries: Javelet, Fa'avesi, Heavirland, Tapper, Hingano
Convs: Kelter, Feury, Heavirland

5th-Place Final

Fiji 24, USA 19
Tries: Tapper, Heavirland, Javelet
Convs: Jeavirland 2