Injuries contributed to a moderately disappointing day three at the Hong Kong Sevens for the USA Men's Sevens team on Sunday, with only a victory over Scotland to boast about as the Eagles finished sixth in the tournament.

A fairly comprehensive hiding at the hands of New Zealand dropped the USA out of the Cup Quarterfinals, but the Americans rebounded with a fairly solid game against Scotland. Martin Iosefo and Folau Niua seemed to take the leadership reins on the attack, and Carlin Isles burned the Scots for a classic as the USA held on 19-15.

However, a second victory against Argentina wasn't in the cards in the fifth-place final, with the Eagles going down 14-12.

Clearly, the USA missed Perry Baker and Danny Barrett. While the Eagles have high-quality players, defenses just aren't forced to double- and triple-team the others the way they have had to with those two. Baker and Barrett left the New Zealand game injured, and head coach Mike Friday held the two out for the remainder of the competition.

USA Rugby reported that both players were held out as a precaution, and would be able to train with the team this week. Maka Unufe, who was injured in the fifth-place final, is day to day.

Finishing sixth in Hong Kong kept the Eagles in sixth in the Sevens World Series overall standings, but it's a precarious placement as Kenya finished second in its second straight tournament and is now only two points behind the USA. At the same time, the Eagles managed to gain on Australia and lost only a point to Argentina. With a little luck, the USA can target fourth as a finish for the season.

There is no tournament this week. Most of the teams on the World Series circuit are playing in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, so the Singapore Sevens has been pushed back a week to April 27-28.

"We as a group have a lot of bumps and bruises and we'll need the time between now and Singapore to recover," Friday said.

The USA faces France, England, and Kenya in Pool B in Singapore.