Australia have stunned hosts the United States 17-7 to complete a dominant opening day at the men’s rugby sevens world series tournament in Los Angeles.

After convincing wins over Scotland, 31-7, and Samoa, 31-5, the Australians continued to play an impressive brand against an American side who were starved of possession until late in the game.

Tries to Lachie Miller, Henry Hutchison and Lachie Anderson put Australia 17-0 clear at halftime before Steve Tomasin’s 12th-minute try was the only time the US came close to crossing.

It sends Tim Walsh’s team into a quarter-final against Ireland on Monday and a chance of making some headway on the world series standings, having struggled to seventh place after four of the 10 rounds.

Former national sprint champion Trae Williams showed he is settling into the sport with a try in each of the first two games while fellow speedster Rod Davies shone in an impact role across all three games.

His double against the Scots was important, after Australia had trailed 7-5 at halftime.

Captain Nick Malouf gained most satisfaction out of trumping the US, who had humbled his team by 36 points and eliminated them from contention at the most recent tournament in Sydney.

“We got our pants pulled down by the States on our home turf and that hurt us a fair bit so it was massive motivation to come out here and reciprocate what they did to us,” Malouf told World Rugby’s broadcast.

Tournament leaders New Zealand and Fiji were the only other teams to emerge with perfect records on day one.