Perry Baker & Naya Tapper | Episode 1

Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by USA 7s legends Perry Baker and Naya Tapper for Episode 1 of The Rugby Sevens Rollercoaster.

Tapper is the first person to score 100 tries on the Women's World Rugby Sevens Series for the United States, debuting in 2016. She represented her country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Tapper played in the 2021 Premier Rugby Sevens Inaugural Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, being a part of the first professional women’s rugby in North America.

Baker is the only player to be awarded with Men's World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year honors twice, in 2017 and 2018. He is now the 3rd highest try scorer in history, scoring his 250th for the United States in 2023. He also represented the U.S. at both the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Baker captained the winning team at the 2021 Premier Rugby Sevens Inaugural Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, which was decided after regular time by a never been seen before best-of-three drop-goal contest!

Since that Inaugural Championship, Premier Rugby Sevens has expanded to 8 franchises with 16 teams in 2023 contesting five tournaments across the U.S. The season starts on June 17 at Q2 Stadium (Austin, Texas) for the Eastern Conference Kickoff, while TCO Stadium (Minneapolis, Minnesota) hosts the Western Conference Kickoff on June 24. The Western Conference Finals are on July 15 at Paypal Park (San Jose, California) and the Eastern Conference Finals on July 23 at Highmark Stadium (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). The 2023 Championship will be played on August 6.

This episode includes a brief review of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in which the top four teams (France qualify as hosts) at the end of the current Series will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

We hope you enjoy The Rugby Sevens Rollercoaster!

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