The Eagles entered their Shield semi-final against France hoping to salvage sometime out of a very poor tournament. Instead, they gave away a two try lead to crash out of the Dubai 7s with a 19-14 loss to France. With Spain's earlier win over Russia to reach the Shield final and Portugal's advancing to the Bowl semi-finals the Eagles will inch closer to last place in the IRB Sevens Series standings.
Like they've done several times this tournament the Eagles started out well. They were able to keep possession for much of the first half and pin France deep in their own territory. Nu'u Punimata put the Eagles on the board first when he took the ball out of a ruck to plunge over for the try. Folau Niua's conversion made it 7-0.
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The U.S. nearly scored a minute later when a Niua chip ahead couldn't find test. However, the second try would come only a few minutes later. The U.S. kept possession, albeit sloppily, and when the ball found its way into Pono Haitsuka's hands he dummied the French defense and found the gap for the try. At halftime the Eagles led 14-0.
However, the second half was a complete reverse of the first with France dominating possession and pinning the Eagles back. That was soon rewarded as some nice passing and patient work led to veteran Paul Albaladejo scoring France's first try. The second try then came as the U.S. missed several tackles allowing the French team to move from their own tryline all the way down the field. Both Steve Tomasin and Carlin Isles were unable to take down the ball carrier in time before he could offload to Vincent Inigo who scored.
Because France had missed their conversion on their first try the Eagles still held the lead with less than a minute remaining but France reclaimed the restart giving them an opportunity to score. Facing a tired U.S. defense all it took was a few passes and a dummy to score the winning try. It was a fitting end to a disasterous tournament for the Eagles.
They now head to South Africa next week needing to earn points and answer more questions surrounding the team. If they put in a similar performance to Dubai they risk losing more points in the standings.
Starters: Isles, Durutalo, Punimata, Test, Niua, Haitsuka, Craigwell.
Subs Used: Edwards, Tomasin