World Cup prospect Shane Geraghty suffered another injury blow but England Saxons opened their Barclays Churchill Cup campaign with a comfortable victory over USA at Edgeley Park.
The 20-year-old London Irish centre, who made such a promising senior debut in the RBS 6 Nations victory against France at Twickenham in March, was forced off shortly after the half-hour mark.
He appeared to have aggravated the same hamstring injury which forced him to miss the closing weeks of the Guinness Premiership season.
It was another cruel blow for the youngster, who had been purposely left out of the senior Test squad which travelled to South Africa so as to allow him to regain his match sharpness and prove himself worthy of a place in Brian Ashton's World Cup squad.
He must now be considered a severe doubt for the Saxon's remaining Churchill Cup games but, aside from Geragthy's loss, there were several encouraging signs for coach Jim Mallinder.
Leicester number eight Jordan Crane produced a dominant display which included two tries, London Irish full-back Delon Armitage also claimed a brace while Gloucester fly-half Ryan Lamb caught the eye on his 21st birthday with his astute kicking and clever distribution.
However, three conversions from nine attempts suggested he has yet to fully recover from the shock of last Sunday's heavy Premiership final defeat to Leicester.
The Americans, with a side consisting almost exclusively of US-based amateur players, proved spirited opponents but there was little to suggest they will cause England any problems at the World Cup in September.
The USA are in the same pool as Ashton's men and opened the scoring in front of 6,050 spectators in Stockport when Nese Malifa landed a 25-metre penalty.
However, the Saxons had far superior power up front and in the seventh minute a bewildering array of inter-passing involving Geraghty and Lamb culminated in Topsy Ojo grounding in the left corner.
The Saxons' additional power from the scrum spawned Crane's first try on 25 minutes, and after Malifa's penalty rebounded off a post, they extended their lead when Armitage squeezed over.
Crane added his second in first-half injury-time and Jim Evans claimed the Saxons' fifth try six minutes after the restart.
Crane's clever grubber allowed Armitage to hack forward and outstrip the Americans' defence down the right flank before touching down, and Jack Forster crossed for the Saxons' seventh.
There was still time for Phil Dowson to collect Lamb's short pass to score, while the final say went to Lee Dickson, who burst clear in the closing stages.
England Saxons (24) 51
Tries: Ojo, Crane (3), Armitage (2), Evans, Forster, Dickson
Cons: Lamb (3)
USA (3) 3
Pen: Malifa
England Saxons: Armitage, Scarbrough, Sorrell, Geraghty, Ojo, Lamb, Wigglesworth, Hatley, Paice, Brooks, Blaze, Evans, Dowson, Skinner, Crane.
Replacements: Thompson, Forster, Mercey, Kennedy, Woods, Dickson, Mordt.
USA: Viljoen, Wyles, Tuipulotu, Esikia, Palefau, Malifa, Kjar, French, Crick, Vitale, Mexted, Mangan, Stanfill, Clever, Quinn.
Replacements: Burdette, Osentowski, Wiedemer, Mo'unga, Williams, Peterson, Osborne.