Rough End to Fiji Trip for USA Falcons

Injuries, fatigue, and a drastic change in time zones may have undercut the Shangri-La USA Falcons at the Coral Coast 7s in Fiji, but such an experience is also what the Sevens World Series is like.

Eventually, the Falcons finished far down the rankings, losing the Bowl Quarterfinal to 20-5 to Ratuva Horse Riding, and thus leaving the islands in the bottom half of the standings.

Ben Nicholls got the lone try for the Falcons in their final game, but the loss of Mime Ziegler and Ryan Matyas to injury, and the hobbling of Eric Deuchle, was certainly a detriment.

At their best, the USA could compete at the upper end of the tournament. They lost to Army 21-17, thanks to their own poor attention span, and Army ended up 2nd. But they weren't consistent, and one wonders how many of those players played their way onto the Eagle squad these past couple of weeks.

Certainly Nu'u Punimata had his moments, and before his injury, Ziegler showed potential as a forward. But the halfback situation seems almost less clear than before, and the same goes for center.

Scores and rankings from Coral Coast