Settled in at Leeds, the USA Men’s National Team has had little time for reflection on Sunday’s loss to Samoa, what with Sunday bringing another stern test, Scotland.

The team traveled from Portsmouth to Leeds on Monday and spent Tuesday reviewing film and training. The coaches provided a preview of Scotland on Wednesday, and then Thursday they rested.

The frustration for the Eagles against Samoa was that they didn’t get enough possession, and the referee George Clancy was especially harsh on their attempts to poach the ball. Once again, as has been seen in far too many Rugby World Cup games, killing the ball was allowed, and poaching not. Andrew Durutalo was pinged early for what looked like a good steal, and that set the tone.

“That seemed to jar the guys a bit as one of our strengths all summer was suddenly being refereed in an unusual way,” said Head Coach Mike Tolkin. “We know we were not as disciplined as we should have been, but we were also given some tough calls.”

So maybe they get a different look with New Zealander referee Chris Pollock? One can only hope. 

“Scotland is a big challenge,” said Tolkin, “but the guys are up for it and are hungry to improve on our performance in the first match. Opportunities are there and we need to cash in on them.”

Don’t expect any major changes in the USA lineup, but we might see one or two. The key right now is to keep players upbeat.

They seem to be - earlier this week Hayden Smith was talking about his time i the NFL and saying he missed the rugby camaraderie and culture. Then Chris Wyles walked by and said “going on about the NFL again are we?” and Smith joked “I take that back about missing the culture.”

All in good fun, and good news for a team that still needs to be together to do well.

“It's been long haul this summer and a lot of time on the road,” said Tolkin. “The players have been great and morale high. So I'm fortunate to have a quality group of players working hard all this time to represent the Eagles as best they can. Everyone was disappointed with the first one, but they played good ball at times.”

The USA plays Scotland on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 9:30am ET, 6:30am PT. Go to http://watchrwc2015.com to watch online. It is broadcast on Universal Sports, and if you don’t get Universal Sports, it’s on Pay Per View.