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;"Baker scores 100th Sevens Series try", Americas Rugby News, March 13, 2017. followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. The U.S. finished the season in fifth place overall, a record high for the team."U.S. rugby concludes best-ever season", NBC Sports, Seth Rubinroit, May 21, 2017.
Perry Baker and Danny Barrett were both selected to the 2016-17 Dream Team.
Tournament results
Leg Date Finish Record (W-L-D) Leading Try Scorer Leading Points Scorer Dream Team selection Dubai December 2016 9th 4–2 (5) (39) — South Africa December 2016 T–7th 2–3 (5) (25) — New Zealand January 2017 T–11th 2–2–1 Baker & Barrett (3) (23) — Australia February 2017 6th 3–3 (5) (24) United States March 2017 3rd 4–2 (5) (25) Canada March 2017 4th 4–2 Perry Baker (9) Perry Baker (45) Perry Baker Hong Kong April 2017 4th 4–2 Perry Baker (9) Perry Baker (45) Baker & Pinkelman Singapore April 2017 2nd 4–2 Baker & Tomasin (8) Baker & Tomasin (40) Baker, Barrett & Tomasin France May 2017 5th 4–2 Perry Baker (8) Perry Baker (40) - England 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."U.S. rugby concludes best-ever season", NBC Sports, Seth Rubinroit, May 21, 2017. 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 Tries Points Stephen Tomasin 57 156 27 171 Madison Hughes 49 143 13 279 Folau Niua 57 91 10 58 Perry Baker 53 82 57 285 Ben Pinkelman 35 73 11 55 Martin Iosefo 55 66 19 95 Andrew Durutalo 54 64 13 67 Maka Unufe 47 60 14 70 Danny Barrett 42 44 22 110 Matai Leuta 40 27 3 15 Mike Te'o 13 22 5 29 Don Pati 18 11 3 15
References