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LONDON – The Men’s Eagles Sevens restored their advantage over Canada with a 29-10 win in the Marriott London Sevens Cup Quarterfinal Sunday.

While Canada’s 40-0 shutout defeat of the U.S. in Glasgow last weekend was not enough to derail Mike Friday’s side’s tournament, it was important for the Eagles to get a win against their rival ahead of the 2015 NACRA Sevens Championships, where they will battle Canada for a Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games qualification spot.

Maka Unufe helped the Eagles win possession on the opening kickoff, forcing Canada into conceding a penalty. Madison Hughes sent a grubber kick behind the defensive line and ran onto it to dot down between the posts for an early, 7-0, lead.

Canada could not find much space on the pitch as the Eagles kept their shape through phases. Perry Baker’s run down the right-hand touch line in the fifth minute was cut short, and the winger turned over possession with a step into touch. He and Hughes made crucial tackles on the opposite wing before Canada moved the ball wide again to Mike Fuailefau, who was able to get the ball down in-goal through Danny Barrett’s sliding tackle to bring the score to 7-5.

Barrett kept hold of the restart and the Eagles retained possession by drawing a penalty, and a quick ball to Baker cutting inside at midfield was all the speedster needed to give the Eagles another seven-point lead heading into halftime.

A Canada knock-on on the restart gave the Eagles a platform of attack at midfield, and a pop pass from Hughes to an onrushing Unufe doubled the advantage to 19-5. Two minutes later, Baker refused to be taken into touch on the wing to keep the ball for his side before the Eagles swung it wide to Garrett Bender. Bender stepped inside Fuailefau and broke the tackle of Connor Braid to extend the lead to 24-5.

Thretton Palamo took to the pitch at Twickenham Stadium late in the second half for his first action of the weekend and had a 20-meter run to midfield that ended with a knock. From the turnover, Nathan Hirayama sent a crossfield kick to Harry Jones inside the 10 for Canada’s No. 11 to score.

It was too late for Canada to come back from two converted tries, and Carlin Isles added a try at the end of the match with quick ball from a quick tap finding the winger in space to bring the final score to 29-10.

England qualified for Rio 2016 as the Team GB representative after its second match of pool play Saturday and finished second in Pool C to set up a Cup Quarterfinal matchup with New Zealand, which the home team won, 21-17. The U.S. will face England in its third Cup Semifinal of the Series at 9:40 a.m. ET.

Men’s Eagles Sevens | Marriott London Sevens

2. Mataiyasi Leuta

7. Folau Niua

8. Maka Unufe

9. Nate Augspurger

10. Madison Hughes (C)

11. Perry Baker

12. Martin Iosefo

Canada | v USA

1. Sean White

2. Connor Braid

3. Mike Fuailefau

4. John Moonlight

5. Conor Trainor

6. Sean Duke

7. Matt Evans

8. Pat Kay

9. Nathan Hirayama

10. Admir Cejvanovic

11. Harry Jones

12. Adam Zaruba

Men’s Eagles Sevens | 29

Tries: Hughes, Baker, Unufe, Bender, Isles

Conversions: Hughes (2)

Canada | 10

Tries: Fuailefau, Jones

Conversions: N/A

Men’s Eagles Sevens | Marriott London Sevens

v France – W 24-19

v Portugal – W 28-12

v South Africa – W 21-12

Cup Quarterfinal v Canada – W 29-10

Cup Semifinal v England – Sunday, May 17 – 9:40 a.m. ET

LONDON – The Men’s Eagles Sevens scored seven tries in a dominant, 45-22, defeat of Australia in the Marriott London Sevens Cup Final Sunday to win their first-ever World Rugby HSBC Sevens World Series title.

Mike Friday’s squad finished pool play undefeated and scored a combined 12 tries in Quarterfinal and Semifinal wins against Canada and England, respectively, at Twickenham Stadium. The U.S. reached the Cup Semifinals for the third time this season, while the Final appearance was the first and only since the 2009-10 season’s Adelaide stop.

Madison Hughes finished the tournament as joint-top try-scorer with seven five-pointers, and was the leader in points with a total of 65. He and Danny Barrett were also named to the Dream Team.

England sealed fourth place in the Series standings Saturday, as well as the final automatic-qualifying spot for the Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games. The U.S. finishes the 2014-15 Series sixth with 108 points, 37 more than its best Series total in 2012-13.

Zack Test, unavailable for Marriott London Sevens due to injury, was named to the 2014-15 World Rugby HSBC Sevens World Series Dream Team.

Eagles 45, Australia 22

Australia was the other remaining undefeated following Semifinal exits for Fiji and England, and began the match with a try in the first minute. Nick Malouf received the ball at midfield and galloped just out of the reach of Andrew Durutalo on the wing. The try was not converted for a 5-0 score line.

The Eagles got their first touch of the ball when Barrett won the restart. Andrew Durutalo got through a tackle to get the midfield and the ball moved wide to Hughes, who sped away from the defenders to dot down between the sticks. He converted the try to give the Eagles a 7-5 lead.

The ball stayed with the U.S. after Unufe won the restart and Barrett took the ball through two defenders around midfield before standing up to the full back for the try. Hughes’ conversion was successful for a 14-5 lead.

Leuta caught the ensuing restart and got the ball to Durutalo to get to the five-meter line. The Eagles used the space effectively and passed quickly to the wing, where Barrett had plenty of room to score his second of the match. The touch-line conversion was just wide, keeping the Eagles’ lead at 19-5.

Australia went for a lineout when the Eagles conceded a penalty on the restart, and used the field position inside the U.S.’s half to get one try back through Lewis Holland. Two quick offloads set up the opportunity for Holland in support, and the No. 4 cut the deficit to 19-10 after eight minutes.

The Eagles gained the 22 with a set play from an Australian penalty on the restart. The ball went wide to the left, where Leuta held off a tackle long enough to pass off to Maka Unufe. Unufe jumped over one tackle and offloaded to Folau Niua 10 meters from the try zone before getting it back to dot down over the line. Niua converted the try for a 26-10 lead.

It could have been one more before the end of the half, but the referee called a forward pass as the Eagles approached the try line once again.

Unufe won a penalty in the breakdown and Niua kicked to touch for a lineout at midfield. Efficient passing resulted in Perry Baker receiving the ball 20 meters from the touch line. The speedster broke one tackle on his way around the wing and fended a second before racing to the try zone. The conversion was successful, extending the lead to 33-10.

Australia responded after one phase of the attack when Malouf added his second of the match under the posts. Lueta and Hughes made sure the Eagles got the ball on the ensuing restart before they drew a penalty just inside midfield. Hughes’ quick tap began the attack, which was ended by Unufe’s 50-meter run from a dummy pass.

The 38-15 lead lasted until the 19th minute, when Sam Myers put the ball down in-goal, but season-debutant Thretton Palamo added the final tally with a 60-meter run on the other side of the restart.

NACRA Sevens

The Eagles will regroup at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., for their next opportunity to qualify for Rio 2016: the 2015 NACRA Sevens Championships in Cary, N.C., June 13-14. For tickets to the regional qualification tournament at WakeMed Soccer Park, visit www.nacrasevens.com.

Men’s Eagles Sevens | v Australia