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‘It killed me’: USA thrash Fiji to take step towards SVNS Grand Final
By Finn Morton
The United States of America have taken a significant step towards securing their place in the SVNS Series’ Grand Final in Madrid with a statement 33-14 win over Fiji at Singapore’s National Stadium.
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Seven men’s teams have already booked their place in the winner-takes-all event at the home of Spanish football giants Atletico Madrid, but there are a few other sides battling it out for one last spot.
Spain have been impressive recently but they seem to be an outside chance of making the top eight. Instead, it’s likely to come down to either the USA or Great Britain who are both in Pool C.
With this being the final regular season event of the campaign, the USA already had a foot in the Grand Final with a seven-point lead over GB. But after the opening round of pool fixtures on a humid Friday afternoon, the USA Eagles appear all but set for Madrid.
Ireland have all but condemned GB to a spot in the play-off for core status with a 19-5 win, but before that, the United States send a message to the rest of the SVNS Series with a relentless 19-point win over two-time Olympic gold medallists Fiji.
With sweat still dripping down his face, the USA’s Lucas Lacamp still offered a smile when saying “we always want to beat Fiji” before diving deeper into the importance of that first victory over the traditional sevens powerhouse.
“We know how well we can play, and even that game we made some mistakes, me included. We can always get better, we always strive to be better and strive to get as perfect as we can,” Lacamp told RugbyPass.
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“But you know again, it’s a good start but we’ve got to keep the momentum ging.
“With this Series, every game is basically a final,” he added. “We haven’t verbally talked about it (but) we’re aware of it, we’re aware of the stakes at hand. We don’t want to be in that bottom four.
Wait for the goose step 🤤
This Kevon Williams artistry helps @USARugby to a convincing win over Fiji#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSSGP pic.twitter.com/ieKlDscDnn
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 3, 2024
“It’s great that we have GB in our group who are close behind us. We’ve just got to keep building in the next games.”
One moment that really summed up the desperation and intent the Eagles played with on Friday afternoon involved Lacamp’s effort on both sides of the ball early on.
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Lacamp, who was born in Hong Kong China, sprinted back in defence in an attempt to stop Fiji before Pilipo Bukanyaro scored inside the opening minute. Less than a minute after, the 22-year-old was down the other end crossing for the USA’s opener in Singapore.
Captain Kevon Williams, two-time Sevens Player of the Year Perry Baker, Aaron Cummings and Malacchi Esdale also got on the scoresheet as the Eagles ran away with a stunningly-dominant result.
“It killed me,” Lacamp said. “It’s a game of opportunities. The slimmest of margins, little error here, little error there, you’ve got to strike when you can.
“Fortunately, we’ve got great conditioning, great coaches. We know when to go and you saw towards the end, it was just trying to hang on, cling on when it matters most.
“You’ve got to give everything… you can’t give 50 per cent, you’ve got to give everything when you’re going because as you saw, they scored and then we scored straight away.
“When we get those opportunities we’ve got to take them.”
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