Ebner Taking a Leave of Absence

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USA loses to Argentina 17-14. Ebner was on the field for the losing score in extra time.
 
bideau said:
USA loses to Argentina 17-14. Ebner was on the field for the losing score in extra time.
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That's really impressive. Argentina are a top tier rugby side.

The US women finished 5th which is also very good.
 
Roberto71 said:
That's really impressive. Argentina are a top tier rugby side.

The US women finished 5th which is also very good.
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Since I'm not a rugby person, I was wondering how good Argentina is supposed to be. They appeared to dominate most of the play. The US finally broke through in the 2nd half when Argentina had 2 in the "penalty box", or whatever it's called in Rugby. The US took a 14-12 lead with about 30 seconds to go. But one of the quirks of rugby is that as long as the losing team controls the ball, the game goes on even when the clock runs out. Argentina controlled the ball down the field and finally scored. The only US player in sight was Ebner, so I don't know if he blew an assignment or if it was a general breakdown.

BTW, Japan beat New Zealand, which I assume is an upset of some type.
 
bideau said:
Since I'm not a rugby person, I was wondering how good Argentina is supposed to be. They appeared to dominate most of the play. The US finally broke through in the 2nd half when Argentina had 2 in the "penalty box", or whatever it's called in Rugby. The US took a 14-12 lead with about 30 seconds to go. But one of the quirks of rugby is that as long as the losing team controls the ball, the game goes on even when the clock runs out. Argentina controlled the ball down the field and finally scored. The only US player in sight was Ebner, so I don't know if he blew an assignment or if it was a general breakdown.

BTW, Japan beat New Zealand, which I assume is an upset of some type.
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The Pumas (Argentina) are a major power now and reached the semi finals of the Rugby World Cup last year (the full 15 man game).

The challenge with 7s is you have the full rugby field to cover with just 7 men on your side. So you will have wide open play with overlaps worked to put players through to score.

Japan beating NZ is like a minor college team beating the Patriots. It's huge. It's the 7s version so upsets are more likely, but it's still massive. NZ are world champions in the 15 man game and dominate rugby. Their 7s teams typically win also.

Fiji and NZ are usually the two best 7s sides.
 
bideau said:
But one of the quirks of rugby is that as long as the losing team controls the ball, the game goes on even when the clock runs out. Argentina controlled the ball down the field and finally scored. The only US player in sight was Ebner, so I don't know if he blew an assignment or if it was a general breakdown.
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Not a rugby person either, but it did seems to be a defensive breakdown with the defense not "staying in their lanes". Aussie brought the ball down the right side and got most of the US team over there with them. They then did a few laterals back to the left to a wide open field. They were still about 30 yards from pay-dirt when I started thinking, "Oh Shit, they are going all the way". The guy could have highfooted it on into the endzone, but this is rugby and showboating pvssies aren't allowed. It did appear that Ebner was the last guy on the end and basically trying to stop a 2 on 1 which proved to be too much for one guy to handle. Sad really. It would have been a heck of a comeback after being down 12-0.
 
bideau said:
Ebner not playing the 1st match.
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He didn't play in the first half, which disappointed me.

As soon as he came in he made a real nice stick and blasted a guy who was roughing up our ballcarrier. He also had a nice open-field tackle and a couple of solid carries, but he didn't really look like the same rugby wildman I had seen on film.

While the US got back into the game in the second half with him on the field, I'm not sure if he was supposed to have outside contain on that final touch FTW. If that was the case, then he made a critical mistake, but.....I dunno.

We'll get Brazil, but that was a very tough loss.
 
I didn't see the 2nd match, but the US beat Brazil 26-0, with Ebner scoring a try and also being penalized for a blind side hit.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's Nate Ebner scoring for <a href="https://twitter.com/USARugby">@USARugby</a> . US leading Brazil 14-0. <a href="https://t.co/bgrMdLYZDO">pic.twitter.com/bgrMdLYZDO</a></p>— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) <a href="https://twitter.com/Trags/status/763120218063470592">August 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nate Ebner sinbinned for this massive blindside hit. Just like special teams. BB smiles somewhere <a href="https://t.co/SSQrHuTHcb">pic.twitter.com/SSQrHuTHcb</a></p>— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) <a href="https://twitter.com/Trags/status/763122401882152960">August 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Great win for the US team, I see Nate is getting huge support on social media from Pats players.

USA Rugby will be over the moon with the coverage they're getting.
 
US loses to Fiji 24-19.
Ebner score a try with about a minute left on a long run, but that was it.
If the US had lost by 3 or less, they would have qualified for the knock out round. Now they need help.
 
US will play Brazil now for 9-12th place and then the winner will play against the winner of the other 9-12 match up between Spain and Kenya. It's a mini competition for the sides that didn't make the Quarter Finals.

US v Brazil will be played in two hours time.
 
I just watched the first of the concession games and the US beat Brazil soundly with Ebner playing well and getting props from the announcer.

The unquestioned star was Carlin Isles who was in the whole way and had, I think, 3 tries.

That dude has speed you seldom see in Rugby. He's a bit of a liability in other areas of the game, but put the ball in his hands in space and he's dynamic.

I don't know why he didn't get more chances in the other games. Maybe inexperience, but......holy shit can he fly.
 
Isles with a great run just before halftime to give USA a 12-5 lead. I haven't seen Ebner on the field yet, but I don't have the greatest eye.
 
Isles with another great run to seal it at the end, 24-12. As far as I could tell, Ebner never set foot on the field. I could have been convinced he wasn't even there if I didn't see him shaking hands afterward.
 
Given it's relatively minor import, maybe Bill just sat him down. :shrug:


Cheers
 
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