The USA men finished 4th in the Madrid 7s as the young players finished off the two weeks of tournaments.

The Eagles were somewhat shorthanded through the second day of the second tournament, and it showed as they lost 28-0 to Argentina, beat Spain 26-10, and then lost the 3rd-4th game to Spain 27-21.

That final game showed what happens when you don't have experienced heads on the team. At the same time, it was a mistake by one of those experienced heads that put the final nail in the USA coffin.

The Eagles did well with the ball in hand and got tries from Jake Lachina, Cody Melphy, and Joe Schreoder, all converted by Melphy. That staked the USA to a 21-20 lead over Spain—three tries for the USA and four for Spain, but Melphy's conversions the difference.

But also a problem for the Eagles was keeping the ball. Too often ballcarriers were isolated, or they made that final little mistake that gave Spain the ball and often a little territory, too. The Eagle defense chose to bend, not break, and the Spanish runners scampered through to find territory and score some well-taken tries.

Madrid Tournament 2 Scores, Standings

Than at the end, the Eagles had their chance. They defended doggedly and almost drove the Spanish into touch. A wild offload seemed to be enough to to perhaps force a knock-on or at least poor possession that the Americans could exploit. But Martin Iosefo wanted to end it right now, and he reached out to grab the ball with one hand. He couldn't catch it, and a knock-on in that situation is almost always penalized as deliberate. Penalty for Spain, yellow card for Iosefo, and ultimately an inevitable try. Any player can be forgiven for trying to do something to change, or finish, a game, but it was a little moment of impatience by the USA captain, and in the end Spain was able to capitalize.

But that's what these tournaments are for. The Eagles learned that they haven't found all the pieces yet, and they also learned that if you're going to go into contact a lot, you better have someone clearing out in that ruck.

there was much to recommend the USA team, but clearly there's more work to do.