U.S. struggles in qualifying round of USA Sevens

Paul Emerick had one man to beat, and he certainly wasn't going to let just one man stand in his way.

Emerick shoved the Japanese defender aside to score the try and give the United States a much-needed boost at the end of a difficult day.

His goal sparked a 24-7 victory over Japan in the USA Sevens Las Vegas, the short-handed Americans' only win in three rugby games Saturday.

While the U.S. was happy to finish on a positive note before an announced crowd of 24,877 at Sam Boyd Stadium -- larger than for many UNLV fooball games -- the Americans still have the challenge of being without standout players Mark Bokhoven, Nu'u Punimata and Shalom Suniula today.

But they beat Japan without them.

"It shows the depth of our squad," Emerick said. "Everyone came in and played well."

U.S. coach Al Caravelli didn't specify which player has which injury, but he said the infirmary list includes an anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and high ankle sprain.

"Our squad is an experienced squad," Caravelli said. "They understand probably the best thing they could do was use it as a positive for a rallying call."

The U.S. will attempt to do what it did last year when it bounced back from a 1-2 start to win the Bowl title. Divisions are determined by the first-day play, and Bowl is ranked third of the four.

The Americans' Bowl quarterfinal is against Canada (0-3) at 9:38 a.m. today.

England (4-0) plays South Africa (3-0-1) in the Cup semifinals at 11:13 a.m., and Fiji (4-0) goes against New Zealand (4-0) at 11:35. The Cup final is at 2:15 p.m.

The U.S. opened with losses of 27-5 to South Africa and 28-12 to Samoa.

Roland Suniula scored on a try late in the first half to give the U.S. a 7-0 halftime lead over Japan. Then 26 seconds into the second half, Emerick had his big chance, and he took advantage by shoving Shohei Toyoshima out of the way to put the Americans up 12-0.

"We're much more a second-half team," U.S. captain Matt Hawkins said. "As soon as we went to the second half and (Emerick) had that nice big run, it definitely gets the engine going and gets us enthused and ready to go."

The U.S. scored two more tries to lead 24-0 before a late Japanese tally.

"We're disappointed a little bit that we let them score that last try, but for 13 minutes and 35 seconds, they played really, really well," Caravelli said.

In Saturday's U.S. opener, the Americans were knocked back quickly, falling behind 22-0 at halftime to South Africa. Zach Test gave the U.S. its only points, a try 56 seconds into the second half.

Against Samoa, Hawkins provided one of the game's top plays when he broke a two-man tackle and outraced a third defender to cut Samoa's lead to 7-5. The U.S. later got to within 14-12, but Samoa's Alafoti Faosiliva lateraled while on his back to Ofisa Treviranus for a try and all-but-clinching 21-12 lead.

The loss to Samoa ensured the U.S. would not play for the Cup title, though struggling in probably the tournament's toughest pool wasn't a surprise.

That pool included the three highest-placing winners in last year's Las Vegas tournament -- Samoa in Cup, South Africa in Plate and the U.S. in Bowl. Japan made the Shield final.

"It seems like you get to home soil, and you get the pool of death," Caravelli said, laughing. "It's like that every year."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.