Eagles Eye Paris And 4th In World Series Standings

Eagles Eye Paris And 4th In World Series Standings

The USA Men's 7s team can secure 5th and maybe chase 4th in the World Series Standings this weekend.

May 12, 2017 by Alex Goff
Eagles Eye Paris And 4th In World Series Standings
Two tournaments remain in the World Rugby Sevens World Series, and the USA men's sevens team remains on the cusp of posting its best finish ever.

The Eagles' best season was probably 2014-15, when they finished sixth and logged a tournament victory in London. Last year, they also finished sixth but with no tournament victory and a slightly lower per-tournament performance. This year? The USA has an excellent chance at finishing fifth and with a record points total and points average.

The Eagles could even finish fourth, although that's going to be a stretch. Having finished second in Singapore, the USA gained four crucial points on Australia to keep a bit of distance between the fifth-place Eagles and the sixth-place Aussies. So here's how things could shake out in Paris and, a week later, in London.

Latest World Series Standings

USA Keeps 5th

Easy. Just do as well as Australia. If the Eagles match Australia's performance, or are close to it, they will stay fifth and Australia will stay sixth. What makes this difficult? The USA is in a really tough pool in Pool B with Argentina, Wales, and New Zealand. Australia has Fiji in its pool but also a struggling Samoa and Russia. 

Paris Sevens Day 1 Schedule 
Saturday, May 13

vs. Argentina, 5:06 AM ET 
vs. Wales, 8:32 AM ET 
vs. New Zealand, 11:58 AM ET

USA Rises To 4th

To do this the Eagles have to outperform New Zealand by a significant margin. For example, the USA needs New Zealand to finish no higher than fifth (what used to be winning the Plate), and the Eagles needs to be first or second -- in both Paris and London. What might help the USA is that it has done pretty well against the All Blacks this season, and if the Eagles get a little luck, maybe New Zealand doesn't make it to the Cup round in France.

That is possible, but it could happen to the Eagles, too.

USA Drops To 6th

Difficult. Even if the USA fails to make the top eight out of pool play, and Australia does, and even if the Aussies do so well that they catch the Eagles, there's always a chance to make it better in London.

Best Season Ever For Eagles?

This series would surely be considered the Eagles' best if they win in either Paris or London, so they could equal the 2014-15 season accomplishment. As we said, fifth place would be a record. To set a record for points per tournament, the USA needs to finish in the top eight both times (or get a total of 20 points).

South Africa Finishes 1st

Virtually a certainty. If South Africa is within three placing spots of Fiji and within four or five of England, then it will clinch without even kicking off in London. To not win the Series, the Blitzbokke need to be in the bottom six of both tournaments, and that won't happen.

Who Finishes 2nd?

England is at 130 points, and Fiji is at 132. That's a nice race to see who is the runner-up. 

Stats Leaders (And Top USA player)

Points: Tom Mitchell (ENG), 226; Madison Hughes (USA), 210 - 4th
Tries: Perry Baker (USA) 41, he leads Dan Norton by 2
Conversions: Scott Wight (SCO), 83; Madison Hughes (USA), 80 - 2nd
Clean Breaks: Perry Baker (USA) 52, he leads Dan Norton by 9
Most Tackles: Chris Dry (SA) 129; Stephen Tomasin (USA) 124 - 3rd

USA Lineup For Paris

1. Alex Schwarz 
2. Ben Pinkelman 
3. Don Pati 
4. Matai Leuta 
5. Mike Te'o 
6. Andrew Durutalo 
7. Folau Niua 
8. Maka Unufe 
9. Stephen Tomasin 
10. Madison Hughes (C) 
11. Perry Baker 
12. Martin Iosefo 
13. Naima Fualaau

This is a relatively young team in that Naima Fualaau is a teenager just recently out of the Peninsula Green High School program and is now playing with Life West. Alex Schwartz (Old Blue NY) is also somewhat new to the team. The rest have been there before. Don Pati and Mike Te'o are somewhat similar in that they are short, strong, powerful players with deceptive speed.

Milestone Watch

Maka Unufe is one try away from 50 for his World Series career. Folau Niua is three tries away from 50. Hughes is 65 points from reaching 1,000 points. Scoring 65 points in two tournaments is pretty tough, so that milstone may have to wait until next season. Perry Baker can reach 120 tries if he scores three in Paris. Alex Schwartz will make his USA debut.