The USA gave away a relatively comfortable lead to Canada, seeing the Canadians score twice in the final 90 seconds to tie the Eagles 26-26 in the second round of games in the USA 7s in Las Vegas.

The Eagles looked in control for much of the game, but struggled to even get possession in the final minutes.

The Americans struck early, winning the ball after the kickoff and sending hands out to Zack Test for a try in the corner.

They extended that lead when Perry Baker produced a lovely bit of brilliance, chipping ahead out of his 22 and then following up onto the ball to pick it up and race in under the posts. This tournament is the first World Series tournament to be played on artificial turf, and certainly the true bounce was good news for Baker.

Canada replied with a try that came right after Maka Unufe was hurt during a clear out - it looked as is he was knocked back but didn’t want to left go of the ball, and suffered an army injury that forced him off the field.

It was a blow to the USA, but Unufe’s replacement made an immediate impact. Martin iosefo gathered the loose ball off the restart and cantered in for a try and a 19-7 halftime lead.

In the second half, Canada showed a lot more spirit and looked to score early. However, Baker made a superb tackle to force a knock-on. From the ensuing scrum five meters from the USA line, the ball went out to Baker, who was pinned at the back of his in-goal. Baker skated right, beat the first defender, put on the jets, outpaced a second, and then sidestepped past a third to run 109 meters for a brilliant try.

That made it 26-7, but after that it was all Canada.

The Eagles could not secure the restart, and Canada sent Connor Trainor down the wing. He was ankle-tapped by Test, but got up and kept going for the try.

Phil Mack them ripped the ball out of Garrett Bender’s hands after the kickoff and that set up Nathan Hirayama in the corner. Hirayama then hit the touchline conversion to make it 26-21.

Then Canada won the restart again, got a penalty, and eventually saw Mack stiff-arm Ben Pinkelman and go in at the corner. The conversion was missed, and the game ended 26-26.

For USA Coach Mike Friday, it was yet another frustrating game.

“We were in control of the game but we surrendered the lead,” said Friday. “It’s the small things that hurt you, but this is where these young boys are now. They need to learn the lessons.”

South Africa is a clear 2-0 in the USA’s pool, and the Eagles sit 1-0-1 and in 2nd, while Canada is 0-1-1 and Wales 0-2. If the Eagles go through to the Cup Quarterfinals, it will be on points difference over Canada, assuming Canada beat Wales. 

Canada needs to total margin of victory of their win over Wales and the USA’s loss to South Africa to exceed 33. That is completely doable considering how poor Wales has been and how good South Africa has been.