Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

‘It killed me’: USA thrash Fiji to take step towards SVNS Grand Final

Aaron Cummings #1 of the United States scores a try against Pilipo Bukayaro #9 of Fiji in the men's pool C match during day one of the HSBC SVNS Singapore at the National Stadium on May 03, 2024 in Singapore. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

Video Spacer

Chasing the Sun on RugbyPass TV | RPTV

Chasing the Sun, the extraordinary documentary that traces the Springboks’ road to victory at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, is coming to RugbyPass TV.

Watch now

Video Spacer

Chasing the Sun on RugbyPass TV | RPTV

Chasing the Sun, the extraordinary documentary that traces the Springboks’ road to victory at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, is coming to RugbyPass TV.

Watch now

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

“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.

“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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.”

Catch up on all the latest SVNS Series action from the 2023/24 season on RugbyPass TV. SVNS Singapore is live and free to watch, all you need to do is sign up HERE.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 33 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

1 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Rassie Erasmus holds the solution to England's Jamie George conundrum Rassie Erasmus holds the solution to England's Jamie George conundrum
Search