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Mike Friday has made four changes to his Eagles 7s side ahead of the HSBC Sevens Series event at Sam Boyd Stadium this weekend. After a respectable 6th place finish in Sydney the team is now in 8th spot overall, tied on points with both Argentina and France but nudging ahead on scoring differential.
Back in the squad for the first time this season after recovering from shoulder surgery is Ben Pinkelman. The Denver native will bolster the forwards along with the recalled Pat Blair and a first cap for Kansas City’s Walt Elder. In the midfield there is a return for Maka Unufe after missing the Oceanic leg.
Left out from the Sydney group are Don Pati, Connor Wallace-Sims, and Chris Coyle with American Samoa native Pago Haini also not getting the call for Las Vegas. The most notable absentee is Carlin Isles, the speedster set for knee surgery that will rule him out of the rest of the 2016-17 season.
The Eagles have been drawn in Pool B alogn with England, Samoa, and Sudamérica qualifiers Chile. All matches will be streamed live by NBC.
USA EAGLES 7s
Perry Baker, Danny Barrett, Pat Blair, Andrew Durutalo, Walt Elder, Madison Hughes (capt.), Martin Iosefo, Matai Leuta, Folau Niua, Ben Pinkelman, Stephen Tomasin, Maka Unufe
POOL FIXTURES
Fri, Mar 3 – 17:37 PT, 20:37 ET – vs Samoa
Fri, Mar 3 – 20:36 PT, 23:36 ET – vs Chile
Sat, Mar 4 – 16:24 PT, 19:24 ET – vs England
