USA Sevens kick off season with exciting exhibition against PR7s All Stars

The Men’s and Women’s USA Sevens programs spent their weekend in Portland, Oregon, for an exhibition tournament against the PR7s All Stars. 

The USA Men’s Sevens swept their three matches against the hosts, displaying a dominant squad mixed with Olympic veterans and new faces. Lucas Lacamp won the men’s MVP of the game for his work rate, tries, and support in every game. The women defeated the PR7s All Stars but fell to Canada in their final matchup, but rookie players showed off their new skills, looking to prove themselves for selection to the Dubai SVNS squad. 

With both teams out on the pitch for the first time since the Olympic Games 2024 in July, the tournament was a solid warmup effort as both sides look to select their teams heading to Dubai and Cape Town SVNS for the start of the HSBC SVNS season.

The USA Men’s Sevens squad played a best of three tournament against the PR7s All Stars team. The Eagles had a fire under them right out the gates, defeating the hosts 38-10. The All Stars struck first with a try, but the USA kept composure and put up three tries by Lucas Lacamp, Jack Wendling, and Lance Williams in the first half, showing their cohesiveness and support between each other. David Still III kicked off the second half with an epic breakaway try, reminding everyone how missed he was on the sevens pitch. The Eagles conceded one more try to the All Stars, but Orrin Bizer and Marcus Tupuola added two more to the USA tally. 

The USA started off strong in game two against the All Stars, with Peter Sio Jr. displaying his speed and trick passes to run down most of the field for the opening try. But the All Stars looked to have learned from the last match, and put on the pressure to put up two tries in the first half before the Eagles regained control and Orrin Bizer picked and scored. But the All Stars ended the first half with the final score and the lead. The All Stars continued to extend their lead in the second half, exploiting the USA’s fatigue on defense. Aaron Cummings reignited the Eagles’ fire, and Lucas Lacamp’s try and conversion put the Eagles back in the lead until the All Stars scored again. Jack Wendling tied up the score after a quick try off the restart, but the All Stars found the footing to get one more. With one more restart, Pita Vi struck fast, scoring under the posts for Porter Goodrum to kick a magic conversion to win 36-34.

In their final matchup against the All Stars, the hosts had the first effort on the ball, putting up the first score. A slippery ball forced a lot of errors and slowed down the game, but the Eagles finally found their opportunity as Marcus Tupuola tied up the game. The first half was back and forth with whoever had possession scoring, as Pita Vi scored one more try before the first half whistle. The second half saw some dominance with the All Stars, who increased their lead in the first few minutes. But a yellow card to the All Stars gave Lance Williams the space to score and a power play for the Eagles. Their motivation built up, as Lucas Lacamp capitalized on a passing error to score and take the lead. But the All Stars scored once more, tying up the game at the final whistle. With one more restart, it came down to the last play, with Porter Goodrum scoring the final try and conversion to take the USA sweep, 31-24.

In the USA Women’s Sevens first test in Portland, an early knock gave the All Stars preliminary control of the ball. But the Eagles got it back, and Nia Toliver broke away for the first try. Some penalties by the USA gave the All Stars possession, but Toliver scored again off a scrum, putting the Eagles up by 12. The All Stars maintained most of the possession, but the Eagles proved lethal on attack, with Kaylen Thomas making it over the try line to increase the lead in the second half. The All Stars found the USA’s defensive gaps to score, but Sariah Ibarra got the ball on the edge for another USA try. It was a big fight to the finish on both sides, with the All Stars finishing it off, but the USA kep the win, 22-12.

In the most anticipated match of the day, the Eagles met Canada on the pitch. The northern rivals took the early lead, with full speed. The USA built up some momentum heading down into Canadian territory but Canada were relentless even with the slippery conditions in the rain. The Eagles threw everything they could, with no lack of physicality between the teams. But the conditions affected the USA more than the Canadians, who train in British Columbia. The second half began with the same dominance by Canada. The Eagles showed some light as Alena Olsen kicked the ball down field for Alyssa Porter to grab, setting Kaylen Thomas up to jet away for the only USA score. But Canada were more dominant in this matchup, winning 26-5.

Game 1 v PR7s | 38-10 (W)

TRIES | L. Lacamp, J. Wendling, L. Williams, D. Still III, O. Bizer, M. Tupuola

CONV | P. Goodrum (3), F. Talapusi

Game 2 v PR7s | 36-34 (W)

TRIES | P. Sio Jr., O. Bizer, A. Cummings, L. Lacamp, J. Wendling, P. Vi

CONV | O. Bizer, L. Lacamp, P. Goodrum

Game 3 v PR7s | 31-24 (W)

TRIES | M. Tupuola, P. Vi, L. Williams, L. Lacamp, P. Goodrum

CONV | M. Tupuola, L. Lacamp, P. Goodrum

v PR7s | 22-12 (W)

TRIES | N. Toliver (2), K. Thomas, S. Ibarra

CONV | A. Olsen 

v Canada | 5-26 (L)

TRIES | K. Thomas