It is testament to the progress they have made in the last 12 months that USA coach Mike Friday was disappointed to only take third place at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai.
The Englishman saw his young American side beat 12-time Series champions New Zealand twice during the course of the weekend as well as reigning Dubai Rugby Sevens champions South Africa in a statement performance.
In truth it’s been a statement year for the Eagles, who have really taken off as a rugby nation.
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In May they made history by winning a first ever World Series tournament at the London Sevens, which in turn saw them claim sixth place overall in the Series, their best ever result.
“I think what we’ve shown here is the attitude, spirit, grit and resilience that’s required to be successful in this Series and we’re a tier-two nation,” said Friday, who took over the US team in 2014.
“We’re fighting with the big guns, we’re trying to break in and hold our own with them and people are starting to fear us, which is good.
“It’s disappointing because that’s the kind of expectations we’re setting ourselves. We’re not satisfied with being in the semi-finals.
“That’s not what we want to be about. That’s not where we want to get to and that’s not being arrogant. That’s just kind of where we’re setting ourselves as an aspiring tier-two nation to break into the superpowers.”
Following a 14-12 win over the All Blacks in Group B on Friday, the USA secured a thrilling late 21-19 win in the quarter-finals of the Cup competition against the Blitzbok yeterday.
Well that’s the first shock of the day. Defending Dubai champions South Africa are out of the Cup after a 21-19 defeat to the USA
— Matt Jones (@MattJones360) December 5, 2015
They led 12-0 against England in the semi-final before signing off in style with a convincing 31-12 triumph against the injury-ravaged kiwis in the third/fourth-place play-off.
“We’ve set our stall out. We want to become a top-four nation. That’s what we’re aiming to break into. We’ve got to bring consistency in everything we do and this whole series is very unforgiving. If you’re slightly off, you get punished.
“So that is the challenge and it’s a huge challenge because we are trying to get past the likes of New Zealand, South Africa, England, Fiji and Australia.
“I said at the start of the season I wanted to be competitive and I wanted everybody to fear us and respect us and that’s what we’re trying to build towards.”
