Men’s #Vancouver7s: @Eagles7s Analysis, Rain Man Tournament Picks

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VANCOUVER, CANADA – The 2018/2019 HSBC Men’s Sevens Series has hit the official start of the second half of the season in the beautiful city of Vancouver. This means look at the @Eagles7s team and take a stab at predicting the tournament.

The USA currently sit first in the world, all alone for the first time in the program’s history. The USA has made the final in all the first five tournaments though they have only won one, the last one. This is the high level of consistency needed to be a number 1 and the USA are now half way to finishing 1st in the world. With that said, lets take a look at the three main issues that stand out into this tournament.

1) Team changes (+/-): There are .5 changes to the USA squad from Las Vegas. Danny “Bam Bam” Barrett is not with the squad as he fractured his thumb in the final pool game in Las Vegas and has stayed back to the USA for surgery. That has resulted Joe Schroeder, who won the Las Vegas Invitational with the Falcons, joining the squad.

2) Teamwork: Four Eagles made the Vegas 7s dream team. That is what it means to work together to achieve success. That kind of team work will be critical to having a strong showing in Vancouver.

3) Martin Iosefo: He has taken his game to another level. He has played possessed and has really been a handful on attack creating space on the outside for Carlin Isles and been a solid in defense. His continued improvement is making him a difference maker for the team.

Optimist’s View: They win it all, I mean why would you bet against these guys.

Pessimist’s View: They stumble in the quarterfinal before the get it back together and finish 5th

My View: I see the USA making the semi-finals but losing the semi-finals but winning the 3rd place match.

Vancouver 7s:

The USA looks like they have taken the leap to being a top tier side. They have separated themselves from South Africa and England and are only being chased by Fiji and New Zealand. Lets look at the pools and see who will make it through and if that helps clear up the picture.

Here are the Pool Preview

Pool A:
USA
South Africa
Wales
Chile

It will be a fight between the USA and England to top this pool. It will be coin toss as to who wins but based on this year’s form, it will be the USA finishing first. Wales are a lock to finish third with tournament invites Chile being last.

Pool B:
Fiji
Canada
Samoa
Kenya

Fiji should have no problem winning this group. They may face a stern test from Canada as the hosts, but this is their group to lose. Canada are not a safe bet to come in second in this group. Based on last weekend, it should be Samoa, but I am betting on a Las Vegas hangover for Samoa and the home crowd bump for the Canucks. I pick Kenya to be last because I like them playing the kids.

Pool C:
New Zealand
Australia
Spain
France

I can be sure that New Zealand will win the pool. It will be a dog fight between them and Australia. It will be fight between Spain and France as to who will finish fourth and I give the edge to Spain.

Pool D:
England
Argentina
Scotland
Japan

It is hard to pick that the winner of the group. On form, it should be Argentina but you can never count England as they can put it together in any match. Scotland can put together a run at any tournament. So with all of that said, I feel England will finish first, Argentina second and Scotland third. This leaves Japan to come in last.

Final standings will be:

Cup: Fiji
Second: New Zealand
Third: USA
Fifth: England
Challenge Trophy: Samoa