The USA Men's 7s team did as expected and won their opening game in the Hong Kong 7s.

The Eagles weren't superbly dominant in the game, but defeated Portugal 21-5 nonetheless. Martin Iosefo picked up where he left off in Canada, giving the Eagles the forward charge they needed with a nice dummy and a gallop to the line. Perry Baker scored a typical Perry Baker try to make it 14-0 just before halftime, but Portugal slipped on in before the break to make it 14-5.

As often happened, Portugal hung tough and it wasn't until right at the end the game that Madison Hughes zipped in to seal the deal at 21-5. Hughes converted all three tries.

In the old days of the Hong Kong 7s, this kind of result might have been the kiss of death. That was when quarterfinalists who didn't win their pool were decided on points difference, and so a blowout or two was needed to get one of the coveted wild card spots. But with the tournament back down to 16 (and another Core Qualifier tournament alongside), fans don't have to fret the score so much as the victories.

Nate Ebner did not play in this game. Coach Mike Friday did us the other four members of his bench.

Next up for the USA is Argentina, which lost to Australia on Friday. The kickoff is 9:40pm Pacific Time tonight (Friday), 12:40am Eastern Time.