An opening quarter blitz had seen the Fijians score five tries and race out to a 26-0 lead.

Former Port Macquarie Shark Matt Shipway would have been forgiven for having flashbacks of his last World Cup appearance.

On that occasion, Australia belted the Americans 62-0, but Shipway’s try in Townsville four years later stemmed the blood flow, if only momentarily.

“They pretty much murdered us for the first half hour of the game until we realised we had to have a go if it was going to stay under 100,” Shipway said.

As he received the ball on the left edge and looked up at the Fiji defence, he saw a small gap.

Newcastle Knights forward Jacob Saifiti was fractionally slow moving laterally and Shipway took full advantage, beating him on the inside.

He fended away from Sea Eagle Apisai Koroisau before he crashed over the top of Wests Tiger Kevin Naiqama to score the Tomahawks’ first try of the tournament.

“It would have been nice to have scored a bit earlier on to get us in the arm wrestle a bit,” Shipway said.

“I put my eyes up and the defensive line did seem like there were a few holes so I was lucky enough to get through.

“It was surprising to get one over Kev at the back because he’s usually pretty agile so it’s definitely the highlight of the game for me.”

The end result didn’t go the way Shipway would have liked as the Fijians cruised to a 58-12 win.

“The last two outings have been floggings, but this campaign is a bit more based on giving those (American) guys exposure (to rugby league) that they haven’t had the chance to yet,” he said.

“The result wasn’t great, but the experience was unreal – we had a lot of fun.”

The recently turned 32-year-old admitted he felt comfortable playing against some of the National Rugby League’s best players.

Household names such as Jarryd Hayne, Akuila Uate, Ashton and Korbin Sims and Melbourne Storm flyer Suliasi Vunivalu were all on the other side of halfway.

“I didn’t feel like I was too far out of my depth in the first half on Saturday, but there were definitely times with repeat sets where I was fatigued,” he said.

“I had a couple of good carries and defensively it didn’t feel like I was overawed at all; I was comfortable enough out there, but opportunities were hard to come by.”

Shipway admitted the United States now knew what to expect for its second match against Italy in Townsville on Sunday.

“The first 15 minutes is so crucial,” he said.

“You can’t leak 20 points in 15 minutes to start the game so we need that to be a lot closer which will give ourselves the chance to compete during the whole game.

“The closer the score is and the longer the game goes it really becomes anyone’s game and then pressure comes into it.”