Oof. That France v USA match. That was a fantastic 65 minutes of rugby!!
MAN! I was so gutted for the USA - they held on so damn well, the scoreline at the end did no justice to the American effort throughout the match. Conditioning for them seems to be getting better and better to. Also how hilariously good is Mike Te'o? The man looks like he gave up playing premier footy, has love handles and a bit of a belly but played like a man possessed. Unreal.
Mikey Te'o is astounding. I honestly believe that if he'd been healthy for the MLR Championship game this year, the San Diego Legion would have taken home the trophy, rather than my beloved Seawolves. He's that rare 7s player that can move to XV as well. He's going to be a key part of the Eagles for many years, I expect.
Used to be (at the very least in NZ) that 7s systems were breeding grounds for potential XVs players. Our Sevens squad used to churn out eventual All Blacks and the process worked very well. Then 7s became much more specialized I think, and now it's a rarity like Te'o who can fill both sports. It asks a hell of a lot more of you these days! Plus the other teams are improving so quickly and finding their own athletes to build teams around.