The Eagles have finished fourth at the Glasgow 7s after falling to England 24-19. The U.S. had too many mistakes in the first half that England had no difficulty capitalizing on to earn the win. The U.S. will stay in fifth place, 15 points behind Australia with one tournament to play. They have a seven point lead over Scotland, who are in seventh place.
The U.S. actually had the first opportunity to score when Carlin Isles made a break but he was hauled down short and the ball was turned over. That was pretty much the story of the first half as the wet conditions combined with a lack of concentration saw the U.S. commit a lot of small errors that England punished.
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It didn't take long for England to capitalize on those errors. A turnover at the middle of the pitch ended up in the hands of Dan Bibby who froze an out of position Carlin Isles to run in for the try. In addition to the handling errors the U.S. defensive position was also out of sorts. That would be the case on England's next try. Marcus Watson froze Matai Leuta deep in his own territory and when he offloaded to Tom Mitchell that was all they space they would need for the score. Dan Norton would then beat an out of position Isles to give England a final score before the half.
At halftime coach Mike Friday stressed the next score would dictate the match. Unfortunately for the Eagles a poor pass from Leuta and then a poor decision from Perry Baker to try and kick the ball to college allowed England to extend their lead to 24-0.
After the try the U.S. found their groove and began to work their way back into the match. Baker got the U.S. on the board when he scored via a length of the pitch try. Folau Niua then scored when the U.S. put solid pressure on England. The U.S. kept pushing the rest of the half but could only come up with a final score when Martin Iosefo intercepted a pass for a try.
Despite the match against Canada and the first half and change against England the Eagles have to be happy with the way they played at Glasgow. They made the Cup semi-finals, beat teams they should, and then also knocked off a team ahead of them in the standings. Still, they will be hungry for more next week in London.
Starters: Leuta, Bender, Durutalo, Isles, Niua, Augspurger, Iosefo