USA Women Lose in Hong Kong Semis

USA Women Lose in Hong Kong Semis

April 1, 2006 – The USA women’s 7s team lost 15-0 to Australia in the semifinals of the Hong Kong 7s Saturday.

The game was somewhat tighter than the score would indicated, with the teams deadlocked at 0-0 ten minutes in. Then Australia wheeled a USA scrum deep in American territory and managed to nab the ball and scamper in for a try.

Minutes later Australia intercepted a pass between scrumhalf and flyhalf, and while many called for the Aussies to be penalized for offsides, the interception and try stood.

That score took the wind out of the American sails and another score right at the end of the game saw Australia into the final. They faced New Zealand, who won 38-0 over Kazakhstan, and the Black Ferns ran out on top 24-12.

Mental errors at set piece and lineout gave Australia too much possession said USA head coach Julie McCoy. “When we did have possession lack of patience in the backline forced the offense into too much pressure.”

Like the men’s team, the USA women seem to be a little yippy on the restarts, shwoing their nerves under pressure and committing way too many unforced errors.

“Without repeated tests these errors will continue to plague USA National teams,” McCoy said. “But for now, we stay the course building the program in the direction we want and continue to engage in sponsorship monies that will allow us to travel to international tournaments to test our wills.”