Whether USA Head Coach Mike Tolkin chooses John Quill or Andrew Durutalo at openside flanker, it does appear that he has chosen a ball-hawk type #7 for the Eagles.

And if you look on player selection as something like dealing with a problem - the first step to soling it is admitting you have a problem, or, in this case, the first step is acknowledging what you want - Tolkin has taken a big step.

Should you want a big #7 who smashes people and secures ball? Or do you want a slightly smaller guy who makes large numbers of tackles and looks to steal the ball. Clearly Tolkin has wanted the latter for a while, and he has found two players who can do that.

“I like a player who can poach ball if it’s the right time to do it,” said Tolkin. “At the very least you want to slow ball down. We’ve got two players at #7 who can do that, and others, too.”

But you have to be smart about it, and sometimes it’s best to just get out of the ruck, re-set, and play more defense. But when the poach is on, Tolkin wants his guys to go for it.

Even then, it’s a crapshoot. Consider the fact that early in the game against Japan, Durutalo stole the ball in the ruck, fell to the ground as he did so, and was penalized. The referee said Durutalo’s poach was legal, but then when he went to ground he was committing a penalty. Compare that to a try Samoa scored against the USA, when the ball was stolen in exactly the same way. Different referee, different call.

So at the end of the USA v. Japan game, the Eagles opted to be a little more cautious. Defending their line, the Eagles did not want to give up one more penalty, because they were in danger of a yellow card. Lou Stanfill was in good position to go for the ball at one ruck, but held off. At the key play with 40 seconds to go, Scott LaValla stepped over the ruck, but before he did anything more, looked at the ref as if to ask if he was OK. The ref said get back, which LaValla did, and then he was blindsided by Michael Broadhurst for a penalty.

“We showed good discipline at the end,” said Tolkin. “We didn’t want to give away a stupid penalty, and the guys did well to slow ball down and just be disciplined, and in the end they were the ones that got a stupid penalty.”