The USA Men’s 7s team should, by all rights, be in the Plate Final or the top four of the Wellington 7s, but they’re not, and as the credit for winning their pool is theirs, so the fault for not capitalizing on that lies squarely on their own shoulders.

With four minutes left in their Cup Quarterfinal game against Scotland, the USA led 15-0. But they had also squandered a prime scoring opportunity late in the second half - a squandering that could have been worse if not for the dogged cover chase by Zack Test and Danny Barrett. But with numbers and time to score a try, they got cocky, and lost a chance to extend their 10-0 lead.

Eventually they did in the second half, when some power running and a nice, long pass to Danny Barrett saw Barrett stretch over the line.

But then things started to fall apart. A disagreement between Scottish and USA players over who was to throw the ball in ended with a penalty to Scotland after Barrett was the third man in to the altercation. Still annoyed at the call, the Eagles gave up another penalty and soon a try.

Then Zack Test got a yellow card for killing the ball, and Scotland scored again. 15-12. By then, it was only a matter of time. Despite the obvious need to get it to a fast wing, they took it up the middle, lost the ball, and gave up the winning try.

Against Fiji the USA again showed themselves good enough to win. Folau Niua made a nice move to score, and then Andrew Durutalo backed up Test and Barrett to score.

But they couldn’t hold it. So finally, with the score 12-10 Fiji, Hughes broke out of his 22, linked with Test, who passed to Barrett as he was hit. Barrett was clear to score, but the pass was forward.

The Eagles ended the game upset with the referee because a knock-on by Scotland happened before the hooter, but the game was called anyway. They had a point, but more importantly, they learned that complete focus, complete concentration, is what it’s all about. Losing their composure against Scotland gave away the game. A small forward pass against Fiji meant they lost again. Loss of focus, to a certain extent, led to a loss against South Africa, too.

So the Eagles got 10 points out of Wellington, a nice intro to Las Vegas, put distance between themselves and those chasing them such as France and Canada, and passed Samoa in the standings. But it could have been so much better had they kept their composure.