2016–17 United States national rugby sevens team season explained

Club:United States
Season:2016–17
Prevseason:2015–16
Nextseason:2017–18

The United States national rugby sevens team began the 2016-17 World Rugby Sevens Series slowly, sitting in 11th place after the first three rounds. The U.S. was missing certain key players from the previous season. The U.S. turned things around mid-season. In the second half of the season, the team for the first time reached four consecutive semifinals: first at the USA Sevens where the U.S. finished third; then at the Canada Sevens where Perry Baker scored 9 tries including his 100th career try;[1] followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. The U.S. finished the season in fifth place overall, a record high for the team.[2]

Perry Baker and Danny Barrett were both selected to the 2016-17 Dream Team.

Tournament results

width=6% Legwidth=8% Datewidth=4% Finishwidth=5% Record
(W-L-D)
width=9% Leading Try Scorerwidth=10% Leading Points Scorerwidth=10% Dream Team
selection
December 2016 9th 4–2 (5) (39)
December 2016 T–7th 2–3 (5) (25)
January 2017 T–11th 2–2–1 Baker & Barrett (3) (23)
February 2017 6th 3–3 (5) (24)
March 2017 3rd 4–2 (5) (25)
March 2017 4th 4–2 Perry Baker (9) Perry Baker (45) Perry Baker
April 2017 4th 4–2 Perry Baker (9) Perry Baker (45) Baker & Pinkelman
April 2017 2nd 4–2 Baker & Tomasin (8) Baker & Tomasin (40) Baker, Barrett & Tomasin
May 2017 5th 4–2 Perry Baker (8) Perry Baker (40) -
May 2017 4th 3–3 Perry Baker (8) Perry Baker (40) Perry Baker
Totals 5th Perry Baker (57) Perry Baker (285) Baker (4),

Player statistics

Perry Baker was the season's leading try scorer (57) and points scorer (285) on the Series.[3] Madison Hughes ranked third in points (279).

The following table shows the players who appeared in at least 12 matches for the U.S. during the 2016–17 Sevens Series season.

+ Leading U.S. players (2016–17 WS season)
Player Matches Tackles width=50 Tries !width=50 Points
57 156 27 171
49 143 13 279
57 91 10 58
53 82 57 285
35 73 11 55
55 66 19 95
54 64 13 67
47 60 14 70
Danny Barrett42 44 22 110
40 27 3 15
13 22 5 29
18 11 3 15

Notes and References

  1. http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2017/03/13/baker-scores-100th-sevens-series-try/ "Baker scores 100th Sevens Series try"
  2. http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2017/05/21/u-s-rugby-concludes-best-ever-season/ "U.S. rugby concludes best-ever season"
  3. http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2017/05/21/u-s-rugby-concludes-best-ever-season/ "U.S. rugby concludes best-ever season"