He played the sport at Ohio State and was good enough to make the Men’s Rugby Sevens. The U.S. was awarded a penalty try when an Argentinian defender used a high tackle to stop Zack Test from touching the ball down, and then Danny Barrett scored the first try in U.S. Olympic men’s rugby sevens history.
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Belichick isn’t the warm and fuzzy type, but he does appreciate other sports – especially lacrosse, but in this case rugby – and gave Ebner, a core special-teamer on the Patriots, the blessing to chase his Olympic dreams.
Folau Niua scored the first try of the match for the USA, much to the dismay of the overwhelmingly pro-Brazilian crowd.
They were on the practice field during Ebner’s first game, but Belichick informed his players they would all be coming together to watch Ebner’s second match of the day.
Ebner has the full support of his National Football League team. Ebner’s play in the Olympics is also great PR for an organization who has been talking about deflated footballs for far too long. He was was forced to spend two of them in the sin bin, however, after picking up a yellow card for a late hit.
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Ebner made his debut on Tuesday against Argentina, and the Patriots were behind him despite being thousands of miles away. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. ET.
