Give blood: Play rugby
The USA men’s rugby sevens team, the Eagles, placed fourth in the Las Vegas tournament of the 2014-15 Sevens World Series last weekend.
If fourth place doesn’t seem like very big news, consider the following context.
The Eagles began competing for the rugby sevens world cup in the 1999-2000 series, where they finished 30th out of 34 teams. Since 2008, they have finished in the top 13 teams and were seventh last year.
This year was the first ever that USA made it to the quarter finals in Las Vegas, and they certainly fought for it. They were undefeated Friday after plowing through teams from Japan and Portugal. On Saturday, they tied with the world champs from South Africa and shut-out Canada — take that, America’s hat.
Sunday was heartbreaking. The Eagles fell to the New Zealand All-Blacks, 26-12 — actually, a pretty close loss by only two scores — and were crushed in a rematch against South Africa, 31-0.
Regardless, USA finishing in fourth place is an impressive improvement from years past. They’re moving up in the Series standings, which is especially exciting from a country where rugby is all but completely overshadowed by football, basketball, soccer, golf and underwater basket weaving. That might change soon, considering rugby sevens will be part of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
Sevens is a speedier, intensified version of fifteens rugby. Each team has seven players, all of whom seem way too beefy to be able to run as fast as they do. Each half is seven minutes long, except for the final game which runs 10-minute halves. It doesn’t seem like much could happen in a 14-minute game. However, remember that rugby stops for nothing. The only lulls are mere seconds used to set up after a penalty or if a player is bleeding profusely, and even that’s a stretch.
Last weekend was full of hard hits and nail-biting plays. Fiji fought to the bitter end and won the Las Vegas cup final after handily beating New Zealand.
After the final whistle blew, the packed stands of the Sam Boyd Stadium emptied onto the pitch. Each year, the announcer warns fans that storming the pitch is banned, and each year a select few decide to disregard that before the last match ends. They are generally chased, tackled and escorted out of the stadium by security guards. When the tournament ends, however, it’s a different story, and those left sitting in their seats become the minority.
Rugby is gaining national momentum. There are more youth and collegiate teams than ever before, and USA’s fourth-place finish in Las Vegas along with the upcoming competition in the 2016 Olympics are sure to aide the growing trend.
Before long, the general national attitude about rugby is likely to leave their quiet seats in the stands and storm the pitch with the rest of the world.
— Noelle Johansen is a senior in journalism and Spanish. She knows very little about most sports. Enlighten her at noellejohansen@gmail.com or on Twitter @broelle.