USA 19-17 Ireland
A slow start was Ireland's Rugby Sevens side's undoing as they fell to a second Pool C defeat and were left with an uphill battle to advance to the knockout stages.
Ireland went into the game on the back of a heavy defeat to South Africa, and Anthony Eddy made one change to the side that started the opener, with Gavin Mullin moving to the bench.
Once again Ireland started slowly, with the US enjoying a sustained period of pressure from the outset.
The Irish side defended resolutely, but it was a matter of when rather than if as Perry Baker evaded the attempted tackle from captain Billy Dardis to dot down under the posts.
Madison Hughes knocked over the conversion before disaster struck for Ireland.
Failure to claim the restart saw Hughes get onto the breaking ball and he managed to convert to give the US a 12-0 lead and leave Ireland looking at a second successive defeat.
To their credit, Ireland regrouped well and some good play by Terry Kennedy and Foster Horan saw Hugo Lennox get over in the corner on the stroke of half-time to leave Ireland trailing by just seven at the break.
Ireland resumed the second half in similar fashion and a try from Harry McNulty made it a one-score game at 12-10.
However, the USA regrouped and a converted try from Steve Tomasin stretched the lead back out to nine points.
Ireland introduced Greg O'Shea, Mark Roche and Bryan Mollen as they attempted to close the deficit, but some good US game management saw them control the play before a late Horan try and conversion from Roche meant Ireland lost by the narrowest of margins.
A win in the final group game against Kenya is now crucial to give Ireland any hope of reaching the knockout stages.
Speaking after the match, Ireland's Jordan Conroy said they were disappointed with the result but the focus will now turn to delivering a "big performance" against Kenya.
He admitted the quarter-final hopes were now "on thin ice" but said the team would regroup and "focus on tomorrow's game, fix what we have to do right, fix the wrongs and then just play all out."
The Tullamore man said the Irish side lacked aggression against the US, but said "it can all be fixed" ahead of the final group game.
South Africa 33-14 Ireland
Earlier, Ireland's Rugby Sevens journey began with a defeat as Anthony Eddy's men were beaten by a powerful South Africa side 33-14 in the Tokyo Stadium.
Tries in either half from Gavin Mullin and Terry Kennedy weren't enough for the Irish in their opening Pool C clash as the Blitzboks took the lead three minutes in when Zain Davids exploited space in the defensive line.
Impi Visser then dotted down before Kennedy's pass out to the left gave Mullin the opportunity to score Ireland's first ever Olympic try.
He took it, and Billy Dardis converted to leave the Irish 14-7 behind at half-time.
Justin Geduld extended the South African lead very early into the second period, however, and though Kennedy got one back, Chris Day and Stedman Gans killed off any hopes of a comeback.
The USA beat Kenya - who Ireland face on Tuesday - 19-14 in the pool's other game.
Ireland lose their Pool C opener 33-14 against South Africa but there was one special moment for Gavin Mullin who became the first Irishman ever to score a try at an Olympic Games https://t.co/3qMcgAWXPL #RTESport #Olympics pic.twitter.com/iTnaaHCBXu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 26, 2021
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Ireland captain Dardis said he and the team were "very disappointed" with the result.
"South Africa were big and physical, and we were hoping to be nice and direct and physical and then go wide and get into spaces, but we didn't quite do that and played around too much in the middle," he said.
"Now we’re going to have to flip a switch and dust ourselves off and get on with things. We know exactly what we are going to have to do with USA this evening.
"They’ve got big boys in the middle of the park and some fast guys and we’re going to have to knuckle down for that one.
"If we’re going to make something of this Olympics we’re going to have to put on a big performance."
