Everything came up Eagles on Day One in the London Sevens, the penultimate tournament in the men's HSBC World Series, and the result could be that the USA finishes the season in the top five.

In a virtual tie in the standings with Kenya, Argentina, and England, the USA team's goal had to be to make the top eight, and have two of the other teams fail to do so. They couldn't get all three, as both Kenya and England were in the USA's pool.

The day opened with a small disappointment, as the USA led 19-14 with time essentially up thanks to tries from Carlin Isles, Martin Iosefo, and Danny Barrett. But the world class Collins Injera scored with time up to tie the game 19-19.

At least the Lions missed the conversion. After that, the Eagles were unstoppable. They beat England, a bit of a trouble-spot for the USA, especially in London. Isles capped that game with two scores at the end to make it 31-14, but Danny Barrett's try right off the kickoff set the tone.

Then more of the same as Isles torched France for three in the first half and the USA crushed France 38-14.

Madison Hughes, back from injury, was superb on his goalkicking. Meanwhile, Isles, who has been starting because Perry Baker is injured, passed Baker for top in the World Series in tries, scoring his 41st. There is no one-two finishing punch like Isles and Baker.

@MadisonHughes15 is delighted to be back playing and looks forward to @USARugby taking on Ireland in the quarterfinals of #London7s pic.twitter.com/74usIF5Ukg

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) June 2, 2018

So that put the USA at 2-0-1 and winners of Pool C. Kenya, after beating France, fell apart against England and will go into the consolation round. Meanwhile Argentina, in Pool A with Fiji and New Zealand, will also be in the bottom either.

That leaves England in the quarters with the USA.

Current World Series leaders Fiji played some brilliant rugby in going 3-0 and defeating New Zealand in the process. Canada did enough to make the top eight, and South Africa and Australia won their pools.

The big surprise was Ireland. A country that treats sevens as a bit of an afterthought has the talent to play it, and showed on Saturday in London, beating Wales and Spain to finished second in Pool B.

The good news for the USA now is that England plays the excellent Australia team, and USA takes on Ireland. A win against Ireland and an England loss will confirm the Eagles as sole possessors of 5th place in the standings with one tournament to go.

Cup Quarter-Final lineup: 

Fiji v Canada
USA v Ireland
South Africa v New Zealand
Australia v England