Article content

The giants of rugby sevens have always been, in no particular order, New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and England.

Seems it’s time to add the United States to the elite list.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Patrick Johnston: United Americans enjoying life at the top in sevens rugby series Back to video

The Americans won last weekend’s USA Sevens tournament in Las Vegas, defeating Samoa 27-0 in the final. It’s the second consecutive year the U.S. has won their home tournament.

It was also the Americans first tournament victory of this season, after finishing second in the four previous finals of the 2018-19 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series season.

It all adds up to mean the Americans are currently No. 1, with a bullet, on the overall standings. This is notable for Canada because if the Americans finish in the top four this season, they’ll qualify for the Olympics directly and the Canadians will be almost certain locks to win the North American qualifying tournament later this year.

(The other teams in that event would be teams like Mexico and Jamaica, who aren’t quite at the same skill level as the U.S. or Canada.)