Tonga 10 United States 30

In a thrilling match at Balboa Park, San Francisco, the United States were in rampant form, scoring three tries to beat an enterprising Tongan team by 30-10.

Scrum-half Kevin Dalzell's first-half try sent the United States to a 16-3 half-time lead, en route to a good win over Tonga in their Epson Cup Pacific Rim match.

Finding room out wide, Alatini Saulala and Brian Hightower scored second-half tries for the Eagles, 1-0 after their opening match of the 1999 season.  Mark Williams chipped in two penalty goals, before leaving the bruising encounter with an arm injury.

Fullback Sengili Tu'ihalamaka scored all the points for Tonga, with a try, a conversion, and a penalty goal.

Back from an injury-wracked 1998 season, Chris Morrow sparked the US offense, repeatedly finding running room out wide.  The fullback was key to Dalzell's score, a 60-yard movement.

Saulala's try, an 85-yarder sparked by wing Vaea Anitoni and Dan Lyle, featured more of the open-field attack, but several dropped balls and bad passes stopped several good scoring chances.

"Tonga is a fierce team that gives you trouble for 80 minutes, but we competed the whole way so I was pleased with the result," US coach Jack Clark said after the match.  "We left some things undone and plenty to work on, so it was a good start."

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Puku Faletau, 2 Latiume Maka, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Isi Fatani (c), 5 Falamani Mafi, 6 Matt Te Pou, 7 Kati Tu'ipulotu, 8 Va'a Toloke, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Brian Wooley, 11 Jonathan Koloi, 12 Keni Fisilau, 13 Isi Tapueluelu, 14 Etuate Manu, 15 Sengili Tuihalamaka
Reserves:  David Edwards, Manu Vunipola

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mark Williams, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Tini Saulala, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Chris Morrow
Reserves:  Doug Gillies, Bill LeClerc, David Niu, Kurt Shuman, Jason Walker

Attendance:  4600
Referee:  Bruce Kuklinski (Canada)

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1
Conv:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1
Pen K.:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1

United States
Tries:  Dalzell K. 1, Hightower B. 1, Saulala A. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 1, Morrow C.G. 2
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1, Williams M.A. 2