The USA Men's 7s team finished Pool Play 3-0 Saturday in Hong Kong after beating Argentina and, at the end of the day, Australia.

The USA team looked pretty solid throughout, and in both of those games weathered early deficits before putting the game away. Against Australia, Folau Niua was pinged for a holding-on penalty right at the beginning and from there the Aussies worked it to the right and then back to the left for a relatively simple try.

But that was all they would get. Martin Iosefo forced a penalty on defense, and then a nice break from Maka Unufe got the Eagles going forward. The backs all won a ruck on the right and quick hands from Ben Pinkelman and Danny Barrett set up their fellow forward, Garrett Bender, for a run on the wing, and Bender did the job.

So that made it 7-5 Australia, but the Eagles took the lead right on halftime. They held the ball well and after the halftime hooter had sounded, some smart work from Iosefo, Unufe, and Niua set up Madison Hughes on a cutback, and the captain sidestepped past three players to score and, with his conversion, make it 12-7 at halftime.

The USA did not start Perry Baker or Zack Test, as Mike Friday seemed to prefer a different mix for this game. But early in the second half he did bring on four separate subs. Test and Baker made an immediate impact, with Test winning a lineout and then sub Peter Tiberio feeding Baker, who sidestepped his man and torched past the cover defense for a superb try, and a 17-7 USA lead. 

The Eagles capped it off with a nice sideline-to-sideline movement that put Pinkelman in at the corner. The Eagles took the game 22-7, and really it wasn't that close as aside from the opening sequence, Australia didn't look even close to scoring.

New England Patriot Nate Ebner did not play, and has not played yet. He was not wearing game kit for the third game, so there's some question about whether he's 100%.

Having won the pool, the USA faces South Africa in the Cup Quarterfinals.