US Eagles too strong for BarbadosFrom USA Rugby press release
Fly half Mike Hercus converted all 13 tries as the US Eagles secured the highest score in their history against Barbados - 91-0 - in Rugby World Cup qualifying at Stanford’s Steuber Rugby Stadium.
“It’s nice to have that one up our sleeves,” said interim head coach Peter Thorburn, who picked up his first win. “It was a good result, but we’re not going to get carried away.”
With 26 points on the afternoon, Hercus ties Chris O’Brien’s single-game scoring record - O’Brien scored three tries and seven conversions against Uruguay in 1989 - and improves his own all-time career scoring record to 329 points.
“I’ve been working pretty hard at coming back, so I’m pretty happy with today,” said Hercus, who played his first game for the Eagles this season after sitting out last month’s Churchill Cup matches with a groin injury.
Jeff Hullinger and center Phillip Eloff each scored a hat trick; Bell and Esikia each grabbed a brace; Todd Clever and Paul Emerick scored tries and Hullinger, Brian Barnard, Patrick Bell and Vaha Esikia scored their first tries in international rugby.
“Overall we had a good performance,” said US skipper Kort Schubert. “The guys put in a full 80 minutes today, the forwards worked well in scrums and it was a great team effort all around. Our journey to the World Cup started today and now we can focus on Canada.”