Tough Loss for USA vs Scotland
Tough Loss for USA vs Scotland
Scotland defeated the USA 42-7 Friday night at Audi Field in Washington DC.
The game was played in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 17,418, and they saw a Scottish side that punished USA mistakes, didn’t miss their kicks at goal, and got a little bit of the rub of the green from the guy with the whistle.
Scotland got on the board about nine minutes in, making a scoring chance out of a USA turnover. And turnovers were a problem for the USA. They continued to lose control of the ball inside Scotland’s 22 and inside their own.
They had some prime scoring chances in the first half but little mistakes at the lineout, or in their driving maul meant no tries.
Scotland, meanwhile, continued to get key penalties and used those to launch for four tries in the first half. The Eagles, for their part, got two penalty goal attempts, one a relatively short one for AJ MacGinty, and one a long-range effort from fullback Luke Carty. Both missed.
Finally the Eagles scored after a scrum near the Scotland tryline. Scotland tried to run an eightman pick but a tackle from scrumhalf JP Smith jarred the ball loose. After MacGinty them almost got to the line, a nice, flat pass from JP Smith put Tommaso Boni over for the try and MacGinty converted.
But Scotland got the last laugh in the first half with a penalty, maul, and a try, even though it really seemed like Scotland’s maul had disintegrated and they were guilty of obstruction. Referee Jordan Way of Australia was having none of it and the try stood.
In the second half, the USA defended better and ran better continuity on attack. But they struggled to break the Scottish line and also found themselves on the wrong side of some 50-50 calls. Scotland might well have sealed on ballcarriers, but were not called. A couple of good USA jackles were not given. And in the first half an attacking lineout was sacked (which you can do with one player but not more), by three players. If that was OK and you now had a ruck, Scotland was certainly guilty of killing the ball in that ruck … no call.
The scrum remained a place where the USA needs to improve, and they did give up an old-fashion eighman shove for a try. But the game ended with the USA being held up after Scotland was again guilty of killed the ball. It was that kind of night.
Overall, then, the USA had their moments. But, like last week’s loss to Romania, they lost the ball in contact far, far too many times.
“When we got it right, it was right.,” said Head Coach Scott Lawrence. “We just need to get it right more times. That’s test rugby, we need to be more consistent … The big thing is about winning races to the breakdown. There’s some skill set work to do around our carry. We have to be more clean and do things better.”
Certainly some holding-on penalties could have been avoided with better support. Certainly also if a small number of those 50-50 calls had gone the USA’s way, the deficit would have shrunk.
Saia Ihila, Ethan McVeigh, and Connor Mooneyham all earned their first caps. Mooneyham started at wing against vaunted Scottish winger Duhan van der Merve. He did well, taking down the big man several times.
“I though Connor Mooneyham was fantastic on debut,” said Lawrence.
Next up for the USA, they take a break until August when they play Canada August 31 at Dignity Health Sports Park. After that they go to Japan for the Pacific Nations Cup.
And there remain some real questions about how the team should be put together. Some new caps were on center stage on Friday, and we might well see some more. Conscious about rushing players, Lawrence also knows that the future might be here today for a few positions. It's a work in progress, that's for sure.
