Vegas 7s Tournament Themes

Good theme possibilities for an article about the 2014 Vegas 7s tournie would depend on your national perspective. If you are the South African Springboks, who  won the tournament and finally wrestled the lead in the 9 tournament series from New Zealand, a decent theme might be “Springboks end the reign of the Kiwi”. For New Zealand who host the next tournament in the series it could be, “We know how biltong (dried and salted springbok meat) tastes in Wellington’.

With a fantastic  tournament including upsets over Kenya and Wales in their pool matches and France (17-14)  in the cup quarter final and Samoa  {22-19] in the 3^rd place match, Canada’s theme is, ‘We are a force to be reckoned with.“ New Zealand beat Canada {26-7} in the cup semi-final.

For the USA the theme is one that resonates after many of these tournaments and was best expressed in an anguished cry from a 9 year-old New Zealand boy. His face was a mess of sweat smeared white and black face paint as he valiantly shouted encouragement to the USA in their bowl quarterfinal match with Wales.  In the waning moments with the Eagles trailing 12-7 he could take it no more and had to switch from encouragement to advice. As the poignant message left the boys lips,  another Eagle lowered his head,  ran  into contact, took the ball to ground,  and the words, “TRY PASSING THE BALL”, floated over the pitch.

 There were a lot of positives for the Eagles. The USA has gotten very good at beating Spain having won all 4 of their matches against them this series. The new players on the team are showing a lot of potential and scoring tries. The USA didn’t lose by more than a converted try to any team: Wales (12-7). France (14-12), and  Argentina (19-12).

The theme for the fans? Well it was Vegas, Baby, …. We can’t tell.

I will say it was a lot of fun. My one recommendation ( and perhaps it’s my New Orleans upbringing) is to prepare the players for the tournament opening parade. Give them some beads to throw.

Viva Las Vegas 7s!!