Scotland Summer Tour, Game 1: USA v Scotland, 7 June

First topic message reminder :

United States of America v Scotland
Saturday 7 June, 19:30 local  
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas

[TV to be confirmed]

Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees: Francesco Pastrana (Argentina), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

A. Teams:

I. US Eagles

1. Olive Kilifi - OPSB
2. Phil Thiel - Life University
3. Eric Fry - Newcastle Falcons
4. Louis Stanfill - OPSB
5. Hayden Smith - Saracens
6. Todd Clever (c) - NTT Shining Arcs
7. Scott LaValla - Stade Français
8. Cameron Dolan - Northampton Saints
9. Mike Petri - NYAC
10. Shalom Suniula - Belmont Shore
11. Luke Hume - RC Narbonne
12. Andrew Suniula - London Wasps
13. Seamus Kelly - California Golden Bears
14. Blaine Scully - Leicester Tigers
15. Chris Wyles - Saracens

16. Tom Coolican - Richmond
17. Nick Wallace - James Bay
18. Titi Lamositele - Saracens
19. Tai Tuisamoa - London Welsh
20. Danny Barrett - USA Eagles Sevens
21. Folau Niua - Glasgow Warrior
22. Chad London - Glendale Raptors
23. Tim Maupin - University of Utah

II. Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), 20 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors), 9 caps; 1 try, 5 points
13 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), 86 caps; 60 points
12 Duncan Taylor (Saracens), 10 caps
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), 12 caps; 30 points
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), uncapped
9 Greig Laidlaw (C) (Gloucester), 29 caps; 3 tries, 242 points

1 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors), uncapped
2 Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), 43 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
3 Geoff Cross (London Irish), 28 caps; 1 try, 5 points
4 Richie Gray (Castres), 37 caps; 1 try, 5 points
5 Jim Hamilton (Montpellier), 55 caps; 1 try, 5 points
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), 38 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
7 Blair Cowan (London Irish), uncapped
8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), 30 caps; 3 tries, 15 points

16 Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors), 4 caps
17 Alex Allan (Glasgow Warriors), uncapped
18 Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs), 26 caps
19 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), 4 caps
20 Kieran Low (London Irish), 1 cap
21 Grayson Hart (Edinburgh Rugby), uncapped
22 Ruaridh Jackson (London Wasps), 23 caps; 18 points
23 Max Evans (Castres), 42 caps; 3 tries, 15 points

B. Form - head to head:

(includes Scotland A games)

4 Played 4
0 Won 4
4 Lost 0

C. Form - recent

2010 Autumn Internationals
Scotland A 25 - 0 US Eagles

2003 IRB Rugby World Cup, Australia
US Eagles 15-39 Scotland

Didn't watch the game but am very happy for Scotland to get off to a winning start under Vern. Keep going lads.

Right here goes - laptop hooked up, bacon roll in hand, come on Scotland.....!

Player ratings


15 Stuart Hogg 7
14 Sean Maitlaind 7
13 Sean Lamont 6
12 Duncan Taylor 6
11 Tim Visser 8
10 Finn Russell 6
9 Greig Laidlaw 6

1 Gordon Reid 7
2 Scott Lawson 6
3 Geoff Cross 6
4 Richie Gray 6
5 Jim Hamilton 7
6 Alasdair Strokosch 6
7 Blair Cowan 4
8 Johnnie Beattie 6

Game itself - 3
MOM - the commentator

I'd have Hogg less than that. Dropped a high ball, got caught in possession near his own line trying to be too clever, Kicked a long pass out on the full.

Damn. Was Cowan really that bad? I was quite hopeful for him.

At least with the smaller squad, he should get another go against the Canucks.

alive555 wrote:Player ratings


MOM - the commentator

Which one? The one who knew something about rugby and kept trying to talk sense? Or the one who told us after Laidlaw's first penalty rebounded off the post and a USA player knocked on trying to regather,
"That's another penalty because he handled the ball when it came back off the post"???

Cowan was not great at all. Couple of poor passes, dropped a couple. Missed a tackle or two. 5 maybe not 3 for me tho as he put himself about and did get into the right positions

George Carlin wrote:Damn. Was Cowan really that bad? I was quite hopeful for him.

At least with the smaller squad, he should get another go against the Canucks.

the whole team were rusty. Cowan just looked nervous. He did improve later though. Looks like hes got potential and he is quick. Next game sure to play better.

Didn't realise Geoff Cross' dad died a couple of days ago - credit to him for playing and doing so well

TJ wrote:I'd have Hogg less than that.  Dropped a high ball, got caught in possession near his own line trying to be too clever, Kicked a long pass out on the full.

he did score a good try and was named mom, not that means much .

I thought visser was mom , got one try could have had 3

Just watched the game and generally agree that it was comfortable win where we didn't really need to get out of 2nd gear, but it was a pretty poor performance. Pretty happy to start the tour with a comfortable win, especially given the conditions.

Positives:

Laidlaw and visser played well. Visser looked very dangerous and the rest of the team used him well. Just think we should have used him more often!

Russell looks comfortable at this level, but had an armchair ride of it.

Same for Reid.


Negatives:

For all our dominance I thought the pack was poor. Lineouts and restarts misfired and our mauls went nowhere.

Barely noticed Taylor and Lamont were playing

Cowan had a poor game (despite Cotter saying to the contrary) but he definitely needs to play next week to get a fair impression.

Should have scored more tries

Having watched England and Ireland yesterday and then the Scotland game, it just confirmed how far we are behind.

We were guilty of all of the same mistakes we make all the time. USA were poor, but at least we won.

Not reading too much into the Cotter yet as it was a team thrown together and they have only been together for a few days.

Best moment of the match was the summariser praising the USA scrum and saying that it would give them confidence, despite the ref already having blown for a scots pen.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Just watched the game and generally agree that it was comfortable win where we didn't really need to get out of 2nd gear, but it was a pretty poor performance. Pretty happy to start the tour with a comfortable win, especially given the conditions.

Positives:

Laidlaw and visser played well. Visser looked very dangerous and the rest of the team used him well. Just think we should have used him more often!

Russell looks comfortable at this level, but had an armchair ride of it.

Same for Reid.


Negatives:

For all our dominance I thought the pack was poor. Lineouts and restarts misfired and our mauls went nowhere.

Barely noticed Taylor and Lamont were playing

Cowan had a poor game (despite Cotter saying to the contrary) but he definitely needs to play next week to get a fair impression.

Should have scored more tries

It was hard for 12/13 to get into the game when the scrum half insists on kicking away possession.

Agree about the back row, failed to fire. Also for all Grays potential he put in another so/so performance. He really is just another 2nd rower at this stage and not putting in the stand out performances we had hoped for early days.

I just think we can't judge too harshly due to the weather - it reached 35 degrees and high humidity - I can barely function in that weather never mind play rugby..

And lets face it - we're not going to play in anything near those conditions again before the world cup.

I expect a much improved performance next week.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I just think we can't judge too harshly due to the weather - it reached 35 degrees and high humidity - I can barely function in that weather never mind play rugby..

And lets face it - we're not going to play in anything near those conditions again before the world cup.

I expect a much improved performance next week.

Very true about the weather. Next week will be a big test and a big improvement will be needed.

Very true RDW - the last time I was in that heat, I couldn't believe how much effort it seemed to roll over on the sunbed, reach for my book of fiendish Su Doku and call Diego over to order a piña colada.

The guys looked pretty wasted at the end, but it makes me wonder what positive effects it could have to play in such conditions long-term. Better yet, we should have our training camps somewhere hot, dry, and high in altitude (the Atacama Desert springs to mind). Playing a full 80' at Twickenham would be a bloody doddle.

i read that ireland beat a weakened argentina. are we playing a weakened or strengthened argentina ?

also here is cotter talking about the game . http://www.scottishrugby.org/

I think everyone is being a bit harsh. The consensus before the game was that the yanks were no mugs and we would be happy with a 12 point score line. Well we got that comfortably and it should have been a lot more, we were never in any danger though. They only looked like scoring the once (I think it probably was a try) but Visser's would have been given on plenty other days as well.

The conditions were brutal and that no doubt contributed to the mistakes, especially in the second half when fatigue kicked in. There were no great standout performances nor any shockers. I think people are being a bit harsh on Cowan as well. Yes he missed a tackle, but I think Visser over ran that try chance and the pass was not all down to him. Cotter was certainly talking him up after the game and I don't get the impression he is a man to throw praise around unless he means it.

The main issues were the lineout, which was not great all game, so it does seem the problems are not just down to RF, even the so called reliable Lawson was off target! The scrum was on top until the front row was changed. Low it seems is still bringing his Glasgow form to the internationals. That is a little bit worrying as I would imagine Cross will be going home now and will mean we need another TH to come out. Are they going to call for Murray?

Laidlaw still has a great eye for the gap and put Visser away brilliantly but his service remains worryingly slow and some of his kicking is poor. His place in the team surely is under threat. Russell had a decent enough debut, but there was not a lot of creativity in the centres outside him. Surely Bennett has to come in for the next game, it is not as if Cotter does not know him. Assuming Taylor is now out, then I think we may see FR moving out to 12 and MB into the 13 slot and Jacko playing at 10. There are still plenty of options to cover 10 if he was to be injured. There is never going to be a better game than Canada to give an inexperienced player their international debut.

The good news is that it was the first game under a new coach who has in effect only been around for 5 days and was never going to change the world in that time. Things should improve from here on as we move north into a better climate and hopefully another dry track. It would have been nice to have scored a couple more tries and won by a bit more but I will take it and not unhappy. Probably those watching it during the night might feel a bit better about it in the morning when they get up as well!

alive555 wrote:i read that ireland beat a weakened argentina. are we playing a weakened or strengthened argentina ?

also here is cotter talking about the game . http://www.scottishrugby.org/

Argentina were well below full streghth for the England series last Summer. Suppose with them being in the Rugby championships and there players going straight into European league action when it ends they have to get a rest some time.

I'm with you on this biggee, I'm just disappointed that we didn't score more given our complete control on the game

alive555 wrote:i read that ireland beat a weakened argentina. are we playing a weakened or strengthened argentina ?

also here is cotter talking about the game . http://www.scottishrugby.org/

They didn't look weak to me! Ireland didn't play at all well - sat off Argentina for long stretches, almost inviting them onto us. And they came in dollops of offloading free-for-all entertaining stuff at times. So, hard to read how they might look if Ireland played better but for now, Scotland should be wary of any Argentina they meet - weakened or otherwise. These players are looking to get themselves into contention for the SH Championship. They're hungry to impress.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I'm with you on this biggee, I'm just disappointed that we didn't score more given our complete control on the game

I suspect we have all lost our perspective a little on how to properly critique a winning performance, it has been a little while since we have won a game comfortably!

I like to tginj of it in terms of how the likes of Ireland and Wales would have done - pretty sure they would have put 40 points past that USA team

All subjective of course!

Watching back bits of the game today, what is rather disappointing is Hogg's actions after scoring his try. Why does he feel the need to do the cupped hand next to the ear gesture to the crowd?

Very minor point I know, but hate seeing that sort of footballesque goading of the crowd.

GLove39 wrote:Watching back bits of the game today, what is rather disappointing is Hogg's actions after scoring his try. Why does he feel the need to do the cupped hand next to the ear gesture to the crowd?

Yeah... not the nicest gesture at any time.  Perhaps - perhaps - maybe understandable a tad against a high class side where the fans are taunting the calibre of your efforts against their side.  Then it might be understandable that a player might release the tension when scoring.  But against a side like the US it does seem like overkill and ungentlemanly....

I have to say I was disappointed by the performance. Reading some of the comments on facebook you would think we just turned over the All Blacks at Eden Park.

Once again our lineout seemed to fail at the worst time (why is Humphrey still there), the counter rucking of the Eagles seemed to catch us out a few times, and for Frak sake stop kicking the ball away.

I don't buy any excuses about the temp, we are quick enough to defend the Scotland victory against Australia in monsoon conditions, both teams had to play in the heat, and we are talking about professional athletes vs a mix of pro's and amateurs.

Our scrum done well (as if should have) until the referee decided that he would even things up by pinging Scotland. Did the US ever have a straight feed?

To sum up. We were pish. Basic skills let us down again and some players need to realise they are not as good as they think they are.

GLove39 wrote:Watching back bits of the game today, what is rather disappointing is Hogg's actions after scoring his try. Why does he feel the need to do the cupped hand next to the ear gesture to the crowd?

Very minor point I know, but hate seeing that sort of footballesque goading of the crowd.

Maybe he was listening to hear if his agents phone was ringing in the stands. He played for Lions didn't you know.

Just noticed that The Daily Record have put the game on YouTube, which means that I can watch it on the big TV this time. Fair play to them for making it available after the game.

The conditions were terrible but the USA team were proper urine poor. We really should have got another 2 or 3 tries. How baby tunes did we mess up in their 22? No way will we get that many chances against anyone ranked above us.

And ffs, laidlaw still kicking away the ball all the time!!! Really hoped cotter would have put a stop to that tactic. Especially when our forwards had the USA pack for breakfast in open play.

alive555 wrote:i read that ireland beat a weakened argentina. are we playing a weakened or strengthened argentina ?

also here is cotter talking about the game . http://www.scottishrugby.org/

You are playing the same squad we are. They have 13 frontline players based in Europe that are in a training camp for the Rugby Championship and will come back in after they play Scotland.

But don't make the mistake of underestimating them all the same. They are very inexperienced but there is a lot of raw talent there. Scotland can certainly win that one and probably should, but they'll be in for a very physical, demanding test up front and they have some very good flair players outside that can hurt you if you let them as well.

Especially this guy Montero;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_TlW1N598k

Watched the game now. Impressions:

1. We cannot completely discount the conditions. Sure, they affected both teams but you cannot say that if it had been 70 degrees instead of 90 it wouldn't have made a difference.

2. We're being harsh on Hogg. If I'm going to criticise him for anything it's for positional lapses and kicking it out on the full a couple of times. He was thrilled to score, so let's give him a few games to calm the hell down.

3. Every time I see Laidlaw, I wish Cusiter was playing.

4. Visser looked menacing. We have really missed him.

5. Scrum was good, lineout was not good. Subs destabilised the set piece yet again.

6. Cowan wasn't that bad. Butchered the pass to Visser and overran a couple of passes but that's just over-eagerness. Want to see more from him.

Pass marks to all involved.

Lineout good??   

Indeed - complete miss at the lineout a couple of times

And most importantly in their 22 - just like in the 6N

Not a bad first hit out, should have probably killed the game after YC but conditions were tough.

The ball looked very greasy, like passing a par of soap, so I wasn't too concerned about the handling mistakes.  

Thought we defended well, aggressively getting off the line and kept them at arms length for 70 minutes.

Control around breakdown was sloppy, knock-on effect is Laidlaw slowing the game down too much.  And far too much aimless box kicking!!

Would like to see:

MacArthur for Lawson
Brown for Strokosch
Bennett for Taylor (Lamont to 12)

Hello all,

SO while I said I would be watching live unfortunately I happened to meet an, ahem, lassie, the same night and got round to watching this Sunday night ultimately. Given the quality of the game and the quality of my Saturday night, worth it.

First half was pretty good but could have been 40 points up and we were not. Disappointing. Second half you could tell the weather was having a toll - a semi-excuse - and aside from one individual good score from Hogg the USA would have won that half - not a good sign. I agree that we need to be putting these teams away more convincingly BUT let's bear in mind the scratch nature of the squad, the heat, Cotter had no time with the team etc. Let's bear in mind we often don't see a game where Scotland is 90% likely the victor by half time - and in this case we really were. Honestly the US didn't really look like coming into it despite the disallowed try.
Also, if the ref knew how to ref the scrums ... would have seen a few more points knocked over probably.

One important thing to note though, is if that was in the WC we would not have received a bonus point which would have me livid. Hopefully in the WC this will be clear and the 4th try would be coming.

Cowan disappointing but let's persist. Laidlaw has his moments but you could argue Cusiter would bring something better overall, congrats Russell on your first cap after playing for was it Ayr earlier this year, likewise Reid after his season at Glasgow. Pack did well although lineout needs sorting. Backline seemed proficient but lacked a cutting edge - let's see what happens in cooler weather; I suspect we'll see more of a click. Interesting that despite being at 13 I saw Lamont on the wing much more in attack although he did line up in defence. He wasn't a liability.  

Best commentary pieces:
"Hamilton's not sneaking into the movies any time soon"
"StROWkosch? StraCOSCH? Stow-kosch? Stakawsh?!?!"
"30 minutes gone of this FOURTY minute half. (It's FOURTY minutes ok?!)"
"The 2015 world cup in London" <--- Facepalm
Ref at half time - finally: "it's not my fault!"
Scotland pushes USA over their line: "is it a try?"
Rudi Jackson!!

And many more. Entertaining and glad that 50% of the commentary box had a clue. Looks like either somebody paid him to learn rugby - good plan - or they got someone who genuinely cares.

Sorry to hear about Geoff Cross's dad, also. Thoughts go out to him.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Lineout good??   

I actually meant to write "not good". So I now have. It's a free country.

Ineffable wrote:Hello all,

SO while I said I would be watching live unfortunately I happened to meet an, ahem, lassie, the same night and got round to watching this Sunday night ultimately. Given the quality of the game and the quality of my Saturday night, worth it.

Best commentary pieces:
"Hamilton's not sneaking into the movies any time soon"
"StROWkosch? StraCOSCH? Stow-kosch? Stakawsh?!?!"
"30 minutes gone of this FOURTY minute half. (It's FOURTY minutes ok?!)"
"The 2015 world cup in London" <--- Facepalm
Ref at half time - finally: "it's not my fault!"
Scotland pushes USA over their line: "is it a try?"
Rudi Jackson!!

And many more. Entertaining and glad that 50% of the commentary box had a clue. Looks like either somebody paid him to learn rugby - good plan - or they got someone who genuinely cares.

1. Ah, but did you still like her in the morning, Effie?

2. Also loved the commentary - in a manner appropriate for American commentary, it was polite, beautifully presented and with completely inaccurate content a lot of the time. My personal favourites were always referring to Big Jim Hamilton as "Big Jim Hamilton", saying that Chris Wyles played for Leicester and saying that Greig Laidlaw played for Glasgow Warriors. Nothing quite as good as Kellock playing for Glasgow Rangers, though. That one really has set a standard.

Effie - for all we know you passed out pished in an alleyway and were spooned by a drunk hobo!   

RDW_Scotland wrote:Effie - for all we know you passed out pished in an alleyway and were spooned by a drunk hobo!   

Yeah, let's go with he was spooned......

"Spooned". So that's what young people are calling it these days.

reallybored wrote:Not a bad first hit out, should have probably killed the game after YC but conditions were tough.

The ball looked very greasy, like passing a par of soap, so I wasn't too concerned about the handling mistakes.  

Thought we defended well, aggressively getting off the line and kept them at arms length for 70 minutes.

Control around breakdown was sloppy, knock-on effect is Laidlaw slowing the game down too much.  And far too much aimless box kicking!!

Would like to see:

MacArthur for Lawson
Brown for Strokosch
Bennett for Taylor (Lamont to 12)

Lamont at 12?!!!! NO NO NO NO! I would sooner have Jackson at 12, Laidlaw at 12, Russel at 12, Visser at 12, someones rabid Uncle at 12. Not Sean Lamont. He doesn't have the distribution skills to play 12! We have played him at 12 plenty of times and know it doesn't work. Try something new rather than persevering with the old stuff that we know fails.

I felt the conditions in the USA were very challenging. Playing rugby in that humidity looked like torture. We were a bit rusty, the lineout misfired a few times, whether or not that's enough to exonnerate Ford time will tell. If it's still misfiring in Toronto I'll be more concerned.

Hogg's celebratory stuff is a bit lame. He isn't quite as bad as a Scottish version of Chris Ashton but he's rapping on the door. Got a bit of an ego that lad.

Visser looked as dangerous as ever and I felt Gray and Cross had excellent games. In addition I though Laidlaw played well and Russel had a very solid introduction to international rugby.

George Carlin wrote:"Spooned". So that's what young people are calling it these days.

Poor Mrs GC if Mr GC doesn't know what spooning is!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

George Carlin wrote:"Spooned". So that's what young people are calling it these days.

Poor Mrs GC if Mr GC doesn't know what spooning is!

I have 2 children so I am happy to confirm that I have spooned twice now.  

It's not necessary to 'spoon' just to have kids though.  You could have tried other things.  Lampshade Reverse Twirl is a good one if you're the more athletic sort.  Rumble in the Tumble Drier can be exciting for the more bohemian couples.

There's lots of ways to Kanoodle in the Caboodle.

Just to bring this slightly back on topic. Mike Blair has a pretty good column about the match
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/27761746

I'm not too worried as our key players played well, such as Reid, Beattie, Laidlaw, Russell, Visser, Maitland and Hogg(ish) & Gray. The rest I doubt would be in a starting XV of a fully fit Scotland.

Even still though, this was a team of pros and semi-pros. The fact that Zebre could have rumbled over them is what worries me. All three tries were opportunistic or USA specific (scrum) so we didn't create a try from a set piece really. Hay ho, with Welsh, J Gray, Harley, Fusaro, Dunbar/Horne we should have better fortunes.

Anyone hear Ryan Grant and Rory Hughes are in court for that assault?

That's a really well thought through and inciteful piece from Mike Blair and I completely agree with all of it.

Also Horne and Swinson are joining the tour according the Glasgow Warriors facebook page