The USA men's sevens team lost to Australia 26-19 in its opening game at the Sydney Sevens on Friday, as the tournament host country got a little officiating help and plenty of aid from the Americans, too.

The Eagles gave up their first try thanks to a well-orchestrating switch move and a missed tackle. The Aussies got another quickly thereafter, but the third try of the half was all down to referee Sam Grove-White.

An Australian pass off the deck breezed by Martin Iosefo, who then dove on the ball and flipped it back to Folau Niua. But Grove-White called the play back for an intentional knock-on against Iosefo. A yellow card was issued to the Americans, resulting in a lineout and subsequent try for the Australians.

It was a bad call, as Iosefo appeared not to even touch the ball. Clearly he was just reacting to it coming toward his face, and Grove-White's decision had a lasting impact on the game.

The Eagles tried to set Perry Baker free on several occasions in the first period and finally sent the wing on a weaving run for a highlight try to open the second-half scoring. Right after that, Iosefo did well to win the restart, and he ended up getting a perfect pass from Stephen Tomasin to waltz in for a try. It was then Ben Pinkelman's turn to reach the try zone, as he punctuated the USA's rally to tie the score at 19-19.

That's when the Eagles started to do some silly things. A loopy pass from Baker actually landed in a USA pair of hands, but moments later Tomasin's pass out of the tackle was intercepted. It was an unnecessary offload, as the Americans only needed to keep the ball and work through phases to get a try.

Australia scored off that turnover when Baker jumped over a tackle to chase the ball rather than slide back to fill a hole. Then, with time up, Pinkelman stole a lineout, and the Eagles had one more shot. Madison Hughes opted to go into contact with four defenders around him. The result was a penalty against the USA in the ruck and the end of the game.

Grove-White's yellow card decision aside, the Eagles had ample opportunity to win and made several mental errors that cost them.