And then it happened.

Somewhere between visiting two cities of excess and stunt architecture, the USA Eagles found their mojo in the World Sevens Series. Last in Dubai, first in Las Vegas. Those frustrating years of USA teams playing nervous, iffy rugby on their home soil are now put to bed following Sunday's final at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The bad start to the season, forgotten. The injury to their captain, compensated for. Self-belief, yes, there was a lot of that.

An early torching by Perry Baker got the Eagles started against Argentina, but the Rhinoceros of The Strip, Danny Barrett, set the tone.

Uncompromising, unforgiving, unstoppable was the Cal grad with the East Bay mentality. Barrett scored a try at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, and Argentina was simply never in it. Carlin Isles rousted the crowd with the final touch.

The Eagles won the USA Sevens in Las Vegas, defeating Argentina 28-0 and really only being tested once throughout the weekend.

How did they do it?

Ball Handling

Watch any of the games the USA played this weekend and you will see players thinking the same thing: "The ball will be in front of me. I will catch that ball before anything else. If someone hit me, that's OK; I will have the ball."

There was no being of two minds. There was trust and understanding. The USA players routinely passed in front of the man, and the players routinely caught those passes.

Perry Baker Is A Good Player

There's no denying it. Baker can turn the game around. He can take a defensive position and score from it. He can chase down your fastest guy and drag him into touch. You can key on him, and he just smiles and passes to someone who has some room. 

He is still the best player on the circuit and proved it Sunday in Sin City.

Danny Barrett Is Almost Unique

Does anyone else have a player with his attitude, power, and skill? Hard to imagine. Maybe there are one or two, but Barrett strikes fear in tacklers' minds. That's why the tournament gave him this as the player of the final.

Your @HSBC_Sport Player of the Final is Danny Barret AKA @bookemshaaarkie #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/T9fQh0qcRR

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) March 5, 2018

It's not just about being a wild man, although he can be that, too. It's about learning the game and bringing your coaching and your talents to the fore. Barrett explained it all on our Miss Pass podcast.

Sometimes You Need A Reason To Step It Up

Do you remember in London in 2015 when Zack Test was injured and the Eagles won the tournament anyway? This time, Madison Hughes was in Vegas, on crutches. Stephen Tomasin was unable to play. Maka Unufe was the scrumhalf for goodness' sake. 

But everyone started to play better. Everyone realized he couldn't rely on those two this time around.

Of course, Baker and Barrett and Ben Pinkelman played well. Of course, the oft-missed Folau Niua was smooth in a crisis and deceptively fast and deceptively physical. But look more closely at Unufe, who played more than he usually does and did with aggression. Matai Leuta had a breakout tournament.

In fact, Pinkelman did, too. Not that he hasn't been playing very well, but he has blossomed as the team captain. He has taken charge, mentally and physically. 

Set Piece

No one is even close to the USA on restart retention. When you double your chances of getting possession when you kick off, you don't have to play as much defense. You're now on the front foot and scoring, scoring again, and scoring again. It's demoralizing to the other guys.

The USA lineouts, with Pinkelman at the forefront, is unbeatable.

Trophy lift! @USARugby have done it. They’re your #USA7s winners pic.twitter.com/15p593rqYI

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) March 5, 2018

Stats

Baker led the tournament with eight tries. It was a world-class performance. Barrett was right there, and so was Pinkelman. 

The Eagles earned 22 points in Vegas, bypassing England to move up to sixth in the overall standings and putting some distance between them and Kenya and Samoa, who were right behind them going into the tournament. Fourth is within reach in Vancouver next weekend.

The USA scored 146 points and gave up 55. The Eagles scored four tries in four games, and three tries in two. One of those was a 19-7 defeat of Fiji in which the Fijians came close to scoring twice. The other was a really close one against England, but one in which the USA could easily have scored at the end of the game — it just didn't need to. 

The numbers show success and consistency.