The USA Women's Sevens team took 3rd in the Canada Sevens in Langford, BC, bouncing back from a 33-12 loss to New Zealand in the semis to beat France 21-5.
The Eagles started Day Two in British Columbia with a dramatic 28-26 victory over Canada. The USA team seems to have found a bit of a voice with a pressure defense approach that forces teams into errors.
But, to take an analogy from another sport very popular in Canada, it was a bit like a hockey team pulling the goalie. It allows you to put pressure on in the offensive zone, but leaves you open for a long-range score the other way.
That happened with Canada a couple of times, and with New Zealand even more. Pressure defense led to tries for Jordan Gray and Alev Kelter, but after that the Black Ferns figured out that they needed to pull off a sidestep and an offload and they could break away for long-range tries. New Zealand 33 USA 10.
But in the Bronze Medal match, the USA pressure did the job.
Facing a France team that had beaten the Eagles the day before on the final play of the game, the USA players put in a strong defensive performance. And even after Caroline Drouin broke through for a try for France, the USA players didn't let up.
Just before halftime, the Eagles worked the ball out to Naya Tapper, who squeezed over.
In the second half, Kate Zackary bulled over for a 14-5 lead, and Kelter then somehow found enough room to race the length of the field for the game-sealing try.
Re:Live | Naya Tapper scores a cracker at the death to book @USARugby a semi-final spot at the #Canada7s pic.twitter.com/DNhmF1A1yS
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) May 13, 2018
Nicole Heavirland was good on all three conversion attempts, combining with Kelter to make 18 of the team's 21 conversion attempts.
"Incredibly proud of our team for what they have accomplished today," said USA headcCoach Richie Walker. "They stayed physical, overcame their challenges and worked together as a group to achieve a Top 3 finish. With this we have proven our abilities to work hard and meet the goals we set out to achieve. We'll be every bit as ready for Paris."
Kelter led the tournament with 52 points scored, and is 2nd in the entire World Series, behind New Zealand's Portia Woodman. She scored her 50th try and the USA's 500th World Series try in Langford. Somehow she didn't make the tournament Dream Team, but much of what is good with the USA team goes through the former University of Wisconsin hockey star.
With the third-place finish, and with Russia having a terrible weekend, and Spain not much better, the USA moved from 7th in the World Series to a virtual tie with Canada for 4th - Canada has the tiebreaker, but the teams are locked at 44 points each. With one more tournament to go before the World Cup, the Eagles just need to finish higher than the Canadians to take 4th.