Ebner too Fast for the Camera (Rugby 7's)

[Batman]

He was terrible today, if they bench him early, they win the match against NZ.. Dont get me wrong i like Ebner a lot.. And about the video that he got stuffed, that was an awesome play

Clearly they think he is good but out of match practice. Getting him playing now but poorly maybe so he is ready come the Olympics. He has talent for sure but you can't not play in years and expect to be good your first international 7s game.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Workout tougher than the NFL:

NFL star returns to his rugby roots, but ‘it has been brutal’

Patriots safety Nate Ebner absorbs a blast in his return to rugby pitch

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

He is playing now lets see

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

Ebner 1st try against Portugal

 

[lufc]

The Tournament was Hong Kong 10s, it is held in conjunction with HK 7's, it is considered a more "Social" tournament, in that it is made up mostly of touring sides. There isn't much social about the level of play as many of the sides were made up of former internationals, and high level club players. It is a bit of a unique tournament, but the attraction of 10's is that it allows a wider range of players (props, second rows etc) to play (simmilar to 15s) while still offering the pace, highlights and quick games from 7's. As a prop who likes to run in the back line, it is my favorite format.

He actually ended up getting named to the USA 7's side for the HK 7's tournament as well, but I don't believe he ever saw the field. Carlin Isles was a late scratch, so Ebner was added to the roster since he was already in Hong Kong. Given then number of lopsided games that the US played last weekend it is safe to say Mike Friday doesn't think he is up to speed with the current players.

He was named to the side again for Singapore, so he will have another shot at getting playing time this weekend.

Didn't know union played anything other than 7's. Rugby league play a bit of 9's but really had no idea 10's existed. 7's always seems just a bit too loaded in favour of the attack to me.

 

[JMC00]

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Interesting mention of the Patriots' "comms book:"

Ebner on right path for Olympics, says USA coach

 

[vancanpatsfan]

I'm surprised no one posted some of the full games here for guys to check him out.

I couldn't find the Russia game he played in posted anywhere, but here are the Portugal and Scotland games:





Nate played for a club in the 10's social tournament in Hong Kong and then got named to play in the Team USA squad in the HSBC Sevens tournament in Singapore which is the club he's hoping to make.

It looks like the USA coaches decided to get a good look at him in the Day 2 portion of this competition because the USA was relegated to the "Bowl" competition due to their 1-2 record in Day 1 (its pool play in Day 1, then the best teams go to the "Cup" competition, and the others go to the "Bowl").

He played the entire game in all three games on Day 2 against Russia, Portugal and Scotland. Russia and Portugal are kind of lesser lites in the rugby world but Scotland is quite respectable, and the USA has had a good 7s season thus far this year.

He was set up nicely for the two tries he ran in against Portugal and finished them well. You can tell he's laboring a bit with the fitness aspect as he lags behind the play a little when its loose. He made a handful of errors (dropped balls/forward passes/penalties) which you really can't do in 7's as every turnover is crucial because the games are so short (but he wasn't the only one on USA that did either).

One particular error stood out in Scotland's first score as the Scottish ball carrier was tackled and Ebner was right there and could have strongly contested the ball - but he hesitated (almost like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to). He could have hit the ruck hard and pushed his opponent off the ball and won it for USA, but instead Scotland gathered the ball and ran it in for their first score of the game. Seeing as the game was decided by 4 points that could have been the difference.

He does look strong in contact and contesting for the ball. His weakness is that he doesn't create nor threaten the opponents - he isn't a danger to the opposition which at the end of the day is vital when you play 7's with all the open space.

I bet he was exhausted for the next few days - he played three full games on Day 2, and that will be tremendously taxing on the body particularly if he hasn't done that before. He might have been tired and a bit sore after that! Nate might have made more tackles in one day than he has done in an entire regular season of NFL! lol!

 

[vancanpatsfan]

Sorry, didn't realize he actually got into all six games this weekend. He played only the last 1 minute against New Zealand without much to see, the last 4 minutes against France where he was introduced to the game with a big hit, and he played the last 4 minutes against Canada where the only touch he had he tried to catch a kick and knocked the ball forward.

Here's the France game:



So all in all he saw a good hour of play this weekend.

 

[bbobbo]

He played the entire game in all three games on Day 2 against Russia, Portugal and Scotland. Russia and Portugal are kind of lesser lites in the rugby world but Scotland is quite respectable, and the USA has had a good 7s season thus far this year.

i was wondering how he could have possibly played in three full games, then i looked up the rules and saw that it's only two 7-minute halves per game. that seems like an awfully short game!

 

[vancanpatsfan]

i was wondering how he could have possibly played in three full games, then i looked up the rules and saw that it's only two 7-minute halves per game. that seems like an awfully short game!

Its a short game but they play 6 games in a two day weekend.

Most people couldn't survive one 14 minute game, nevermind 3 in one day or 6 in two days. They don't get a breather after sprinting for 5 or 6 seconds nor are there free substitutions.

If you didn't see the article posted earlier, here is a comment posted by Ebner regarding the cardio training he's been having to do. Keep in mind Nate is reknowned for being one of the hardest working guys in training on the team:

NFL star returns to his rugby roots, but ‘it has been brutal’