Mitchell's Eagles go top in Americas champs

Mike Te'o scored two tries and the United States routed Chile 64-0 to seize the lead on the standings from Argentina – by a lone bonus point.

The South American side took a 24-21 road victory at Uruguay that left them level at two wins and one drawn with the Americans, who were deadlocked 35-all with Argentina in their opening match.

But the 10-try burst by the US Eagles against Chile earned an extra bonus point in the overall standings, giving them a 13-12 edge with two matches remaining in the round-robin intercontinental showdown.

Canada remained third at two wins and a loss, on 10 points, with a 52-25 home triumph over winless Brazil, getting two tries each from Lucas Rumball and Clay Panga.

"To get one try was amazing but to get two was just a bonus," Panga said.

"It was an unreal feeling. It's a great testament to how hard the boys worked."

Te'o, from the US Sevens squad, scored in the 64th and 77th minutes and flyhalf Philip Eloff kicked seven conversions and scored his first international try, one of six Eagles to achieve that feat in the rout.

"The performance is more important [than the margin]," US coach John Mitchell said.

"I think we're still naive in terms of game management, but these are problems that have solutions and we're dealing with a very youthful team."

Also scoring tries for the Americans were Chris Baumann, Nic Edwards, Joe Taufete'e, Lorenzo Thomas, Jake Anderson, Chad London and Luke Hume.

"For me, it was a good performance but maybe too much individualism," Mitchell said.

"Sometimes that can happen in a game like this. At times the execution wasn't on, but if you keep going to space there's always going to be a high probability of scoring."

Canada also had tries from Paul Ciulini, Mike Hamson and Ray Barkwill and 13 points kicking from Andrew Ferguson in keeping pace with the leaders.

Marcos Bollini, Juan Cappiello and Franco Cuaranta scored tries for Argentina, which also had two conversions from Juan Novillo and a conversion and penalty kick by reserve Pedro Mercerat.

The scene shifts to South America as the five-week event continues next weekend with the United States at Brazil and Uruguay at Chile on Saturday and Canada visiting Argentina on Sunday.

Scores and scorers from Round Three:

United States 64-0 Chile

The scorers:

For the United States:

Tries: Baumann, Eloff, Edwards, Taufete'e, Thomas, Anderson, Te'o 2, London, Hume

Cons: Eloff 7

Chile:

None

Yellow card: Olive Kilifi (United States, 37)

Teams:

United States: 15 Mike Te'o, 14 Luke Hume, 13 Lorenzo Thomas, 12 Chad London, 11 Nic Edwards, 10 Philip Eloff, 9 Tom Bliss, 8 David Tameilau, 7 Todd Clever (captain), 6 Nate Brakeley, 5 Brodie Orth, 4 Ben Landry, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 Joseph Taufete'e, 1 Eric Fry.

Replacements: 16 Mike Sosene-Feagai, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Demecus Beach, 19 Alec Gletzer, 20 Patrick Blair, 21 Niku Kruger, 22 Ryan Matyas, 23 Jake Anderson.

Chile: 15 Pablo Casas, 14 Matías Contreras, 13 Matías Nordenflycht, 12 Francisco De la Fuente, 11 Humberto Chacaltana, 10 Cristian Onetto, 9 Beltran Vergara, 8 Benjamin Soto (captain), 7 Javier Richard, 6 Ignacio Silva, 5 Raimundo Piwonka, 4 Felipe Bassaletti, 3 Luis Sepulveda, 2 Tomás Dussaillaint, 1 Claudio Zamorano.

Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Moya, 17 Inaki Gurruchaga, 18 Jose Tomas Munita, 19 Cristobal Niedmann, 20 Nikola Bursic, 21 Matthieu Manas, 22 Jose Ignacio Larenas, 23 Leonardo Montoya.

Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)

Canada 52-25 Brazil

The scorers:

For Canada:

Tries: Rumball 2, Panga 2, Ciulini, Hamson, Barkwill

Cons: Ferguson 5, Staller 2

Pen: Ferguson

For Brazil:

Tries: Luiz da Ros, Cremer, Sancery

Cons: Duque 2

Pens: Dugue 2

Teams:

Canada: 15 Pat Parfrey, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Brock Staller, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Duncan Maguire, 10 Gradyn Bowd, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 8 Clay Panga, 7 Alistair Clark, 6 Lucas Rumball, 5 Liam Chisholm, 4 Paul Ciulini, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill (captain), 1 Djustice Sears-Duru.

Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Hubert Buydens, 18 Rob Brouwer, 19 Kyle Baillie, 20 Michael Hamson, 21 Jacob Robinson, 22 Joe Dolesau, 23 Brett Johnson.

Brazil: 15 Daniel Sancery, 14 Stefano Giantorno, 13 Felipe Sancery, 12 Moises Duque, 11 Lucas Muller, 10 Lucas Duque, 9 Johannes Beukes Cremer, 8 Nicholas Smith, 7 Cleber Dias, 6 Mark Jackson (captain), 5 Luis Vieira, 4 Lucas Piero Moraes, 3 Vitor Ancina, 2 Daniel Danielewicz, 1 Jonatas Paulo.

Replacements: 16 Yan Rosetti, 17 Wilton Reboldo, 18 Lucas Abud, 19 Matheus Wolf, 20 Joao Luiz da Ros, 21 Mateus Tavares, 22 Laurent Couhet, 23 Guilherme Coghetto.

Referee: Joaquín Montes (Uruguay)

Assistant referees: Harry Mason (Canada), Doug Hamre (Canada)

Argentina 24-21 Uruguay

Scorers:

For Argentina:

Tries: Bollini, Cuaranta, Cappiello

Cons: Novillo, Mercerat 2

Pen: Mercerat

For Uruguay:

Tries: Ormaechea, Favaro

Con: Secco

Pens: Secco 3

Teams:

Argentina: 15 Segundo Tuculet, 14 Franco Cuaranta, 13 Juan Cappiello, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Axel Müller, 10 Juan Novillo, 9 Marcos Bollini, 8 Santiago Portillo, 7 Lautaro Bávaro, 6 José Deheza, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 4 Pedro Ortega, 3 Cristian Bartoloni, 2 Santiago Iglesias, 1 Roberto Tejerizo (captain).

Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Gonzalo Paulín, 20 Miguel Urtubey, 21 Mauro Perotti,  22 Juan Cruz González, 23 Pedro Mercerat.

Uruguay: 15 Santiago Martínez, 14 Federico Favaro, 13 Andres Vilaseca, 12 Facundo Klappenbach, 11 Andres Rocco, 10 Martin Secco, 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 6 Juan Gaminara (captain), 5 Mathias Palomeque, 4 Diego Magno, 3 Juan Echeverría, 2 German Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.

Replacements: Ingresaron: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Rodolfo de Mula, 18 Ignacio Secco, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Fernando Bascou, 21 Manuel Blengio, 22 Santiago Arata Lijtenstein, 23 Pedro Deal.

Referee: Kurt Weaver (United States)

Standings (under headings played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, total points including bonus points):

1. United States     3 2 1 0 129  57 13

2. Argentina            3 2 1 0 111  71 12

3. Canada                3 2 0 1 107  72 10

4. Uruguay              3 1 0 2  71  86  6

5. Chile                     3 1 0 2  40 138  4

6. Brazil                   3 0 0 3  76 110  2

Americas Championship at a glance:

Round One:

Canada 33-17 Uruguay

United States 35-35 Argentina

Chile 25-22 Brazil

Round Two:

United States 30-22 Canada

Argentina 52-15 Chile

Brazil 29-33 Uruguay

Round Three:

Canada 52-25 Brazil

United States 64-0 Chile

Uruguay 21-24 Argentina

Round Four – February 27 and 28:

Argentina v Canada

Brazil v United States

Chile v Uruguay

Round Five – March 5 and 6:

Chile v Canada

Uruguay v United States

Brazil v Argentina