Appropriately enough USA captain Kevon Williams celebrated his 50th tournament by being the first to touch the ball and by scoring two tries as the USA men’s 7s team opened their LA 7s account with a 31-12 defeat of Samoa.
It wasn’t a walkover by any stretch, as Samoa led 12-7 at halftime, scoring their second try by just playing defense and forcing the Eagles into a series of silly errors near their tryline.
But in between those two tries Williams had torched Samoa for a 50-meter jaunt from a scrum center.
The USA settled down in the second half. Aaron Cummings won the kickoff and then the ball was grubbered beautifully through for Perry Baker to chase down.
After a Samoa break the Eagles forced a penalty, sent it wide to Baker, and then back again to the left where Williams once again outstripped his defense.
A nice switch move between Baker and Joe Schroeder allowed the big man to set up Madison Hughes for his 101st all-time try. Now it was 26-12 and the USA was in control. The USA finished it off when Ben Pinkelman got close and Orrin Bizer (a late callup after Adam Channel fell ill) picked up and carried over.
So job #1 done for the USA on American soil, and much more to do in their own tournament. But a captain’s game from Williams and that’s never a bad thing.
