The USA needed a win over either Portugal or Canada to get a shot at the Cup Quarterfinals in Port Elizabeth, and those options were halved as they lost to Portugal in their opening match at the Nelson Mandela Bay 7s.

And a long looming streak against Canada loomed, as well, but the USA pulled out a much-needed victory over their rivals, beating the Canadians 26-12 to move to 1-1 in Pool D.

Luke Hume was brought into the squad to provide some offensive spark, and he did just that, dancing through the Canada defense for two first-half tries.That put the USA up 14-7 at halftime.

The USA caught a bit of a break as Canada's veteran field general Phil Mack was sent off. That shocked the team in red, for certain.

"It's pretty hard to play the game with six guys," said a sympathetic USA Head Coach Alex Magleby.  

The Eagles then had to make that man advantage pay, and Maka Unufe put the knife in with a try right off the restart in the second half.

Pressing their advantage, the USA made it 26-7 when Colin Hawley scored midway through the second half. Canada got a consolation try, but were never really in it.

This was a new-look USA lineup, as Alex Magleby didn't start either captain Shalom Suniula or halfback Nate Augspurger. Folau Niua took in the kicking was his security in that part of the game made sure Canada was in so deep a hole that they couldn't climb out with one try. But the addition of Hume was key, also, as his ability to make tacklers miss and create holes out of nothing helped produce tries.

USA 26
Tries: Hume 2, Unufe, Hawley
Convs: Niua 3

Canada 12
Tries: Hassler, Douglas
Convs: Hirayama