Despite the eventually ugly score of USA v Tonga, the meat of the problems for the Eagles came down to a seven-minute period between 50 and 57 minutes. During that time, Tonga scored three tries and a penalty, good for 22 points.

Head Coach Mike Tolkin, who takes a battered and depleted Eagle team to Vannes, France to face Fiji, tried to focus on the positive elements in a game where the Eagles defended well and played some good rugby when they weren’t given away turnovers.

“It is a real shame that we had that seven-minute spell, because there was a lot of good in that game from our guys,” Tolkin told Goff Rugby Rugby. “There were definitely bad aspects, but a lot of good as well, especially considering that the key playmakers have so little experience playing those positions.”

That would be Shalom Suniula at flyhalf, Matt Trouville at No. 8, and Folau Niua at fullback.

Tolkin pointed to positive parts of the game, such as the fact that with limited opportunities in the first 40 minutes, the Eagles scored two nice tries and scrambled well to limit Tonga’s scoring, especially when captain Scott LaValla was in the sin-bin.

Secondly, said Tolkin, “the line speed and aggression were good in defense, but some individual failures in work rate and reaction led to line breaks too often and that put us under big pressure.”

Still the Eagles had other opportunities to score in the second half, including a long period inside the Tonga 22 late in the game, and they came away with very little. It’s a frustration for the team, that showed it can score from long-range but not close-in.

“We took some wrong options and let Tonga off the hook by making them not have to work too hard,” said Tolkin, who would have liked to see his team take a quick tap on one of the penalties near the Tonga line (at one point they were told not to by the referee). “We will keep working on our green zone tactics and execution to be more reproductive here. Against Romania we were over 50%, which usually gets the W.”

But it’s also true that the USA team on the field this November is one struggling to play together. Some continuity in the backline was hurt by the injury to Adam Siddall and the unavailability of Taku Ngwenya (who did some good things against Romania). And in addition, Tolkin chose to field a less experience lineup than he could have, giving John Cullen and Greg Peterson their first international starts over Todd Clever (61 caps) and Lou Syanfill (50 caps).

The new players have to learn sometime, and there are still precious few international-level games in which to get tested. Cullen and Peterson had good moments, and difficult moments, and Peterson has played Super Rugby, while Cullen played in the ARC and in the BC leagues with the Seattle Saracens.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Tolkin won’t have too many extra options for selections. Ngwenya should be back in play at wing, and we might see more of Thretton Palamo, but unless Adam Siddall is suddenly asymptomatic, he won't be back. The interior backs will likely be unchanged. Another blow to the deep three comes as Folau Niua is now supposed to be in camp with the USA 7s team. That takes one more playmaker out of the equation. Niua was the team’s goalkicker this past weekend, although he didn’t exactly have his best day.

That leaves Tolkin with fewer options in the back, and probably Andrew Suniula as his goal kicker. It doesn't help that Troy Hall had to be taken out of the squad due to the timing of his un-retiring, and that Brett Thompson was injured. Unless Thompson's shoulder is better (which is unlikely), then the deep three will be Taku Ngwenya, Tim Stanfill, and Tim Maupin. Tolkin might bring in a fill-in here if he can just to get a better kicker at fullback.

In the pack, it’s likely we’ll see Todd Clever starting and Lou Stanfill in action once more. The front row of Mate Moeakiola, Phil Thiel, and Nick Wallace will likely not change unless Olive Kilifi is healthy. Tai Tuisamoa goes back to his club this week, so it’s just a case of figuring out who out of Cullen, Peterson, Kyle Sumsion, John Quill, Matt Trouville, LaValla, Clever, and Stanfill will fill the five lock/flanker/8 positions, with the other two on the bench.

From the original tour squad, only 22 remain and are healthy (possibly 23), and while Tolkin could still call upon either Roland Suniula or Ronnie McLean in the backs, he has basically no wiggle room. He has 14 forwards available for up to 14 spots on the game-day roster, and nine backs for nine or 10 spots.