Eagle Men Have Perth Rug Pulled Out From Under Them

01.27.2024

The HSBC SVNS series can give and it can take away.

For the USA Men's team they rolled into the quarterfinals having gone 3-0 in Pool Play, only to be summarily turfed out by a team they had already beaten.

The Eagles took care of Great Britain in impressive fashion, with Joe Schroeder scoring two tries (including a nice moment, picture at left, where he scored and then high-fived a USA fan in the stands).

Malachi Esdale is starting to have more of an influence in the attack, and Perry Baker continued his form.

And then it all fell apart, Australia dominated the Eagles, scoring four tries in very short order to lead 26-0 (including a couple with Baker in the sin bin) and cruise 31-7.

It was such a turnaround from the USA's overtime win over the Aussies on Day One.

So tonight, instead of playing in the semis, the Eagles are playing for 7th. (The way the SVNS series works is, if you lose a quarterfinal, you're ranked based on your loss margin in that game, with the top two playing for 5th and the bottom two for 7th.) The USA will face off with Spain, which has been playing quite well despite going 1-2 in Pool Play. They beat Canada and were within a try against South Africa. They were beaten well by Argentina in their opener, but competed well against the Argentinians in the quarters.

That game will be at 1:38AM tonight; meanwhile Ireland (another team that lost to the USA) plays Argentina and Fiji takes on Australia in the semis.