Eagles 7s Defeat Tonga 29-7 at Silicon Valley 7s

The Eagles 7s came back from a 7-0 deficit and scored 29 unanswered points to defeat Tonga in their first Pool C match at the Silicon Valley 7s at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. All matches for the November 4-5, 2017 tournament are being streamed live by USA Sevens Rugby on their Facebook page.

The Eagles 7s will play New Zealand next at 4:28 PT before completing their Pool play at 8 pm PT against Chile. In the match between New Zealand and Chile, the Cóndores 7s upset New Zealand 7-0.

Eagles 7s Defeat Tonga Recap

The Eagles played Tonga in their first Pool C match with the slick ball from the rain impacting handling. This match followed the other Pool C match as Chile upset New Zealand 7-0.

The Eagles 7s had the first scoring opportunity of the match, but Matei Leuta was deemed held up in-goal and the Eagles lost possession after winning the ensuing 5-meter scrum.

Tonga would score first as Tevita Alatini was tackled by Matai Leuta and Folau Niua, but a pop pass to Viliami Soakai resulted in a try for an early 7-0 lead.

Tonga had another threat thwarted when Chris Matina angled the defender into touch saving a potential try.

The Eagles 7s then answered back after Tonga restart went through in-goal. The Eagles took the free kick from midfield and went out wide to Malon Al-Jiboori and Stephen Tomasin scampered blind after the breakdown for a try to narrow the lead at the break to 7-5.

Second Half

Martin Iosefo took the opening restart and Malon Al-Jiboori ran through two defenders. After quick ball from the breakdown, an Iosefo to Tomasin offload resulted in a try in the corner. Folau Niua converted the ball from touch for their first lead of the match, 12-7.

The Eagles Claimed the restart and advance to the Tonga 22 meters before a handling error gave up possession. Thanks to a Ben Pinkelman poach, the Eagles spun the ball wide left and a Kevon Williams try gave the USA a 17-5 lead.

Tomasin added a third try with Niua converting to increase the lead to 24-7. The ensuing restart went to Tonga and Niua stripped the ball and offloaded to Joe Schroeder who advanced to within 5 meters of the line. At the breakdown, the ball went wide left and Kevon Williams offloaded to Tomasin for his fourth try and a 29-7 victory.

The Eagles 7s will play New Zealand next at 8 pm PT.

Photo: Doug Coil – Stephen Tomasin 4th try

Silicon Valley 7s Schedule

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