Despite coming in with a variety of changes on the squad, the USA looked polished and tougher Saturday morning as they opened up their account at the Canada 7s in Vancouver, BC.

The Eagles scored four tries in the opening half and cruised to a 42-14 demolition of France. Perry Baker scored his 50th and 51st World Series tries, and Seth Halliman scored his first. But it was an impressive team effort.

The game itself had to be stopped seconds into it as the water-spreading truck that makes the artificial turf more slick was backing not the field. After that, things moved quickly. From a scrum Madison Hughes fed Folau Niua, who popped a nice short ball to an on-charging Martin Iosefo. The center did the rest, galloping 50 meters and weaving the final 15 to score.

Ben Pinkelman did well to force a turnover a few moments later, and Iosefo curved around the back to take the ball at pace and start something.

A smart long pass from Niua set up Pinkelman, who due his man and passed off to Perry Baker, who turned on the gas and did the rest. Baker had just finished making a try-saving tackle, but showed no evidence that he was even breathing hard.

The Eagles kicked off and pressured for the ball, and suddenly Baker was in again - Niua seeing the space and sending a grubber kick through for his wing to chase.

So now it was 21-0, and the half ended with the Eagles being patient in the French 22, and Hughes popping a pass up to Garrett Bender, who sauntered in untouched.

In the second half, things started well from the onset. Baker went high to knock the ball back, and it was nicely-gathered by Pinkelman, who fed Baker. The wing made a beeline for the corner, saw he might be caught, and popped a lovely pass back inside for Hughes.

France scored after that, and again, but then the game ended on a nice note, Pinkelman popping the ball up for Halliman, in as a sub in his first run-out for the USA team. The Central Washington University player who started playing high school rugby at Colorado Springs, then ran straight through for his first try.

It was a very very good start for the USA team, which was supporting behind more successfully than last week, and used controlled pop passes from the ground to feed that support. Danny Barrett got no mention in this report, not because he didn’t do anything, but because he did what was necessary.

Next up for the USA in Vancouver is England at 2:34 pm Pacific Time.