Rugby Heavirland captains Team USA
CLERMONT-FERRAND, France — Whitefish’s Nicole Heavirland helped lead the U.S. women’s national rugby sevens team to a pair of victories at the season-ending HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series on Saturday.
Heavirland was named captain for the tournament, the first time she’s held the role with the squad in eight tournament appearances. She’s one of four players to play in all six rounds this season.
The Eagles had to rally in their first contest of the day after Ireland took scored a try on its first possession of the game, taking a 7-0 advantage less than 60 seconds into the game.
The U.S. rebounded in the second half, touching down a try early in the period to cut the Irish lead to 7-5. Later on, the team’s leading scorer Naya Tapper would add another, with Heavirland adding a conversion to give the Eagles a 12-7 lead and the win.
The Americans won much easier in their second game, beating Japan 33-5. USA scored two tries in the first half and three more in the second surrounding Japan’s only try. Heavirland added three conversions in the win that guaranteed the Eagles a spot in today’s Cup quarterfinals.
In the final match of pool play, the U.S. played a close match once again with New Zealand, the two teams playing within seven points each of their last five meetings dating back to the 2016 Olympics. New Zealand took an early lead but Heavirland helped the team chip back into the game, assisting directly on the Eagles first try of the game to tie the match at 7-7, then converting a try in the second half to narrow the Kiwi lead to 19-14.
The U.S. failed to score again to take the lead, losing by the same score to finish second in its pool.
The loss sets up the Americans to play Australia in the quarterfinals. Team USA has lost to the Wallabies both times they’ve played this season, falling 22-10 in the quarterfinals in Canada last month. The Eagles haven’t beaten Australia in a sevens match since 2015.
The match will be broadcast on TheRugbyChannel.tv at 4:22 a.m. MT.