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Montevideo - The United States wrapped up their second straight Americas Rugby Championship title in historic style on Saturday with a 61-19 victory over Uruguay in Montevideo.
The Eagles became the first team to finish the regional tournament with a perfect five wins from five matches.
"It means a great deal, it's been a long six weeks for the guys, and we're very happy with the outcome," US coach Gary Gold said. "It's good to see all the hard work from the team and staff pay off. The group showed a lot of intent on how they want to play the game."
Against a highly touted Uruguayan side now showing the effects of their World Cup qualifying series against Canada, the US were simply unstoppable.
Tony Lamborn and Mike Te'o crossed inside the 10-minute mark, and Dylan Fawsitt notched his first international try.
The bonus point was secured in the 26th minute when Santiago Arata was shown a yellow card and a penalty try awarded to the US. Nate Augspurger and Hanco Germishuys added tries before the break to see the US up 40-0 at halftime.
"It was a tremendous first half, I commended the guys at halftime for the early possessions," Gold said. "We really wanted to put on an emphatic performance here in the final match.
"We knew we had to put points on the board having seen the Uruguayan side put up 67 against Chile last week."
Coming out of the interval, Te'o made it 47-0 before Uruguay finally put up some points with tries from Santiago Arata and Juan Manuel Cat.
Uruguay would grab one more try and the United States two before it was over, the Eagles celebrating not only a second straight tournament title but also a projected rise three places to 15th in the world rankings.
The United States topped the final table on 24 points. Argentina XV were second on 21, closing out their four-win campaign with a 28-8 victory over Brazil.
Canada defeated Chile 33-17 on Saturday to finish fourth in the standings with 11 points, three behind third-placed Uruguay.
