PARIS — A big second-half surge and Perry Baker’s four tries led the United States to a 33-17 rugby sevens victory over Uruguay on Thursday, keeping American medal hopes alive.
Team USA came into this final match of pool play at Stade de France with a loss to Fiji and draw against France on its resume, forcing the Eagles to win to guarantee advancement.
The American took an opening possession 7-0 edge before Uruguay responded with consecutive tries as Los Teros held a 12-7 lead and seemingly all the momentum late in the first half.
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But in the dying moments before intermission, a key defensive stand and a Baker try just before the whistle gave Team USA a 14-12 lead it would never relinquish. Team USA outscored Uruguay, 19-5, in the second half.
“Yeah, we talk about it all the time, the two minutes before half and two minutes after half (are) the most important minutes of the game,” forward Aaron Cummings said.
“If you can get a score or pull down a score during those two minutes, then you’ll probably be in a good spot to win the game.”
Baker insisted his team still hasn’t shown its full potential yet.
“Even the first game against France, we didn’t really get to show who we were either,” he said. “It was all about the fight and defense. We just know we got to get the ball, score and protect it and just keep it.”
Lucas Lacamp also scored a try for the Americans while Stephen Tomasin connected on all four of his conversion attempts.
Baltazar Amaya’s two tries and Bautista Basso’s one try paced Uruguay’s attack.
Both the United States and France, which lost to Fiji after the American victory over Uruguay, advanced out of group play.
While the Eagles and Les Bleus finished with the same 1-1-1 record, France was deemed to be the second-place team based on point differential.
The top two teams of each of the three groups advance to the quarterfinals along with two third-place sides.
