Scotland defeated the USA U20s 40-13 Thursday at the World U20 Trophy, coming back from a small but real deficit to do so.

The USA team enjoyed a very positive 

The game saw no scoring until the 18th minute as both teams worked hard to establish some dominance. But a penalty and a maul set up the opening try for Scotland—a nice move off the back of the maul and a missed tackle leading to a try for wing Finn Douglas. That was converted by captain and scrumhalf Ben Afshar. 

The USA answered just a couple of minutes later—after a series of phases where they didn't really go anywhere, captain Dom Besag sliced through and pinned the last man before sending a pass to right wing Corbin Smith. High O'Kennedy slotted the difficult conversion and it was all tied up 7-7.

That was a nicely-taken try but it would be the USA's only one. More pressure from the USA produced a couple of penalties, one of which offered a kickable chance for O'Kennedy, which he slotted.

So the USA U20s led Scotland at 26 minutes and would hold that lead until right around halftime. Not for lack of Scotland trying. The Scots camped out in the USA 22 for a long period, using their forwards to try to beat the Americans into submission. The Americans held, thanks in no small part to a seeming try being called back due to an early Scottish infraction.

Pinned in their own end, the USA had trouble reversing the tables until a solid clearance kick and a passing mistake from the Scots allowed Smith to toe the ball ahead a couple of times. The USA wing was in a good position to perhaps go all the way but the other try-scorer, Dougles, managed to get to the ball first. Smith was on him, however, and earned a penalty just a couple of meters from the Scottish line.

The USA opted for the scrum but jut couldn't get it over, ultimately settling for a penalty in front of the posts that O'Kennedy took for a 13-7 lead. 

With the first half coming to a close, Scotland regained the lead.

Once again penalties hurt the Junior Eagles and led to a Scotland lineout just five meters from the USA tryline. A series of surges to the line yielded nothing, but there was some space out wider and inside center Findlay Thompson crashed over. Ashfar converted and Scotland took a slim 14-13 lead into the break.