Ebner stays in France with Falcons

Nate Ebner will miss out on the HSBC Sevens Series event in London this weekend, but he won’t be kicking up his heels. Instead he will stay in France with the USA Falcons development side to play in the Howard Hinton Sevens at the Stade de la Vallée du Cher in Tours. The tournament is a three day event starting May 20 that includes teams from all over Europe as well as some invitational overseas sides.

Eagles 7s assistant Chris Brown will take charge of the side and has named a strong squad with seven players boasting HSBC Series experience. Will Holder captains, with 2015 World Cup halfback Shalom Suniula an able deputy. Americas Rugby Championship flankers Pat Blair and Aladdin Schirmer also get a run along with experienced backs Peter Tiberio and Stephen Tomasin.

Joey Sok, ConRoy Smith, and Anthony Welmers have previous selections for the Falcons. The newcomers are Central Washington’s Tanner Barnes and Richard Kirkland of New Haven Bulldogs and Northeast Academy. Brown said in the media release that the tournament is a chance for Ebner to get valuable playing time and enhance his chances for Olympic selection.

“Nate is going to Howard Hinton Sevens to play rugby, which he hasn’t done much of for a long time. It was always part of his original plan. He will lead through his professionalism; however, he is there to do the fundamentals well and develop within our frameworks.”

The Falcons are in Pool C of the tournament, matched up against Germany, New Zealand-based Tribe 7s, and French sides IDF Sevens and Sevens Elite CDL.

USA FALCONS
Tanner Barnes, Pat Blair, Nate Ebner, Will Holder (capt.), Richard Kirkland, Aladdin Schirmer, ConRoy Smith, Joey Sok, Shalom Suniula, Peter Tiberio, Stephen Tomasin, Anthony Welmers