SIX of one, half a dozen of the other. Whichever way the United States rugby team look at it, in the end they were well and truly beaten.
A lacklustre American Eagles were hit for six tries yesterday as Hong Kong made clear their intention of winning the annual four-nation Pacific Rim Championship, winning 46-9 at the Aberdeen Stadium.
Luke Nabaro and Carl Murray scored two tries each and the Dingley brothers, Jon and Paul, also touched down as Hong Kong went on the rampage.
The rousing victory, which put unbeaten Hong Kong at the top of the Pac Rim standings, was claimed as 'good for Hong Kong rugby' by coach George Simpkin.
'The whole thing is looking healthy at the moment,' said Simpkin. He was happy with the way Hong Kong had bounced back from a mediocre performance against Japan a fortnight ago to totally dominate the Americans.
'We are now starting to get going. I didn't expect more from the first game as the guys had not played 15s rugby since February as they had concentrated mostly on sevens,' said Simpkin. As if the defeat was not enough, the Americans were also badly hit by the sight of hooker Tom Billups being stretchered off with a neck injury in the dying stages of the game.
The most-capped American hooker, who played for Harlequins this season, was injured when a scrum buckled at the moment of packing down.