Eagles change one for Cape Town

Mike Friday has been forced to make one change to his squad ahead of the Cape Town Sevens. World Rugby Player of the Year Perry Baker will not be available after leaving the field concussed in the first match in Dubai last weekend. Taking his place is Denver Barbarians winger Kevon Williams. The 26-year-old has two previous HSBC Sevens Series events under his belt and also appeared at the Silicon Valley pre-season tournament last month.

The rest of the squad remains intact despite the disastrous results at the Sevens Stadium. After entering the tournament with Cup Semi Final hopes the Eagles instead dropped all five of their matches, failing to make the Cup Quarter Finals and registering only a single point to leave them in 15th spot overall heading into the second stage of the Series. It was their worst team performance since Glasgow in May of 2014.

Joining the USA in Pool B of the Cape Town tournament is New Zealand, Australia, and Spain. All three took part in the 2016 Olympic Games. All matches will be streamed live by World Rugby. USA viewers can watch the Eagles matches live on ESPN3.

USA EAGLES 7s
Malon Al-Jiboori, Danny Barrett, Madison Hughes (capt.), Martin Iosefo, Carlin Isles, Matai Leuta, Folau Niua, Ben Pinkelman, Joe Schroeder, Stephen Tomasin, Maka Unufe, Kevon Williams, Naima Fuala’au (13th man)

DAY ONE FIXTURES
Dec 9 – 12:05 local, 05:05 ET – vs New Zealand
Dec 9 – 15:04 local, 08:04 ET – vs Australia
Dec 9 – 18:50 local, 11:50 ET – vs Spain