The U.S. had high hopes of medaling in both the boys and girls division at the Nanjing Youth Olympics but now it's down to one. Only the girls team made it into the top four of their pool and they needed help to do it. With three losses and one draw the girls needed to beat Tunisia and then hope for help elsewhere in order to made the top four. They upheld their part of the deal with a 26-0 wink over Tunisia. The U.S. went ahead 19-0 at the half before scoring a final try. Richelle Stephens continued her hot scoring streak with two tries and three conversions. Apauu Mailau and Michel Navarro also scored tries. The help came later when China beat Spain 45-0.
On the boys side they lost all five of their pool matches with a final 33-10 loss to Argentina. It was only 14-5 at the break before Argentina piled it on. Junior Helu and Aaron Matthews had tries for the United States. They will play Japan in the 5th/6th place playoff. (Update: The boys took home fifth place and their first win of the tournament with a 29-12 victory over Japan. Hanco Germishuys had two tries, Helu one and two conversions, Matthews one, and Suwaiter Poch one.)