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

Laidlaw

Nematode wrote:I'm not too worried as our key players played well, such as Reid, Beattie, Laidlaw, Russell, Visser, Maitland and Hogg(ish) & Gray.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Positives:

Laidlaw and visser played well.

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

BigGee wrote:

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.

alive555 wrote:Player ratings:

9 Greig Laidlaw 6

George Carlin wrote:Watched the game now. Impressions:

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

Relative to the performance of the entire team I think Laidlaw comes out with plus points, but I agree that he wasn't at his best.

His break leading to Visser's try alone is enough to come out with some credit (we don't see our scummy's making many breaks now that Blair has retired) and in the first half at least I think he ran the game pretty well. He fell off it in the 2nd half (and should have been replaced) but so did every player.

So a 6.5/10 would probably fair, with most of the rest of the team getting a 6/10 with the odd exception.

Laidlaw divides opinion at Edinburgh as well. He's capable of inspirational performances (e.g. the Munster win in the HC), but at times his service and decision making can be really pedestrian.

I haven't seen the USA game, but it sounds like he put boot to ball alittle too often. It may be that he was trying to take some of the heat away from Russell - he's done the same with Jackson at international level as well - but he's got to know that he's at his best when he's generating tempo, and not when he's depriving Scotland of it. "Control" is all good and well, but sometimes the scrum half needs to trust his backs and just release the ball quicker. Look at how effective Aaron Smith was for the ABs against England - his service is unbelievably good and the tempo the ABs taken from Smith at 9 causes the opposition defence all sorts of headaches.

We should trust Russell with the kicking duties against Canada, whether he plays 10 or 12, and let Cusiter or Hart play 9. Laidlaw should be benched. Even without having seen the match against the USA, we do need to rotate and keep the other options at 9 focused. Cusiter finished the season in fine form.

Just finished watching the game back this morning. It was certainly very tough conditions to play in, have played in similar conditions out in Canada and Malaysia before and it does take its toll even on pro athletes!
The USA didn't do much in attack but their pack stuck in well and did slow the Scottish ball down to good effect. Their defence was on the whole pretty good especially in the midfield with their outside centre making some big hits to stop Taylor and Lamont. He was also very effective at getting up into the 12 and 13 faces and stopping the ball getting to them hence Taylor and Lamont didn't get much ball.
Scotland did just enough to win and it did look fairly rusty but the USA are a tough team to play against these days so a big scoreline with lots of tries wasn't to be expected.
Thought the scrum went well especially Gordon Reid who caused the tighthead lots of problems.
The lineout was poor, for me they are still trying to over complicate it. That said they are still using the same calls and drills that Scott Johnson brought in as they haven't had time to change it to Cotters so I expect it to improve over the coming games.
Out of the debutants I thought Reid had the best game. He did well in the scrum and got about the park putting in a lot of work.
I think some people are definitley being harsh on Blair Cowan, went through a pile of work and made a lot of tackles and was very good at slowing the ball down when the americans had it. He made a couple mistakes but for a first cap I thought he did well and he will get better next week if given the chance.
Thought Johnnie Beattie had a good game,controlled the ball well at the back of the scrum and made some good hard yards. He also seemed pretty vocal on the pitch and seems to have taken on a senior leader role.
I thought Laidlaw had a mixed game, some great moments like setting up Visser but then some of his passing was very slow again and a few aimless kicks. Think for the type of game Scotland want to play Cusiter is definitely the better option.
I think definitely a game of some positives but lots to work on which was to be expected and against Canada I think we will see a far better performance. Cotter will bring in a game plan and style that is definitely more basic but effective and will see a lot of the mistakes especially the handling ones cut out where it sometimes seems like the ball is a hot potato.

How many posts will it take to sink in that Cusiter hasn't toured with the squad due to his head knock in the final, so doesn't come into selection?   

http://www.scottishrugby.org/news/14/06/01/bennett-and-hart-join-scotland-squad

funnyExiledScot wrote:Laidlaw divides opinion at Edinburgh as well. He's capable of inspirational performances (e.g. the Munster win in the HC), but at times his service and decision making can be really pedestrian.

I haven't seen the USA game, but it sounds like he put boot to ball alittle too often. It may be that he was trying to take some of the heat away from Russell - he's done the same with Jackson at international level as well - but he's got to know that he's at his best when he's generating tempo, and not when he's depriving Scotland of it. "Control" is all good and well, but sometimes the scrum half needs to trust his backs and just release the ball quicker. Look at how effective Aaron Smith was for the ABs against England - his service is unbelievably good and the tempo the ABs taken from Smith at 9 causes the opposition defence all sorts of headaches.

We should trust Russell with the kicking duties against Canada, whether he plays 10 or 12, and let Cusiter or Hart play 9. Laidlaw should be benched. Even without having seen the match against the USA, we do need to rotate and keep the other options at 9 focused. Cusiter finished the season in fine form.

Cusiter did not travel due to his injury in the pro 12 final. Hart and Laidlaw are the 2 SH's on this part of the tour. It would be good to see Hart get capped this time, it will probably be off the bench though.

Ah well - perhaps give Hart a start. For some reason when Laidlaw plays with Jackson he tends to hogg the ball even more. I get the feeling there's a lack of trust there. Hart is a more comfrontation and physical option at 9, and should be pretty fresh. I'd also like to see Russell with the responsibility of taking the kicks at goal. We need to test him, otherwise for Russell to play at 10 we'll need Laidlaw at 9, and when Cusiter returns to fitness, that might be limiting our options.

Actually scrub all that. Cusiter should play 9 against Canada, as I'm sure RDW will agree.....

He really should get Hart up and running into international rugby now, against the easier opponents. It is going be be him and Henry against the pumas and the boks up next, so could definitely used some game time! They will be far harder tests and more bruising, both will play a part in it.

I doubt if he will start him though, but at least give him a decent run off the bench this time and not leave him warming the pine.

Just to bring this back on topic, yes I did like her the next morning but the morning after was about enough.

Unfortunately I cannot confirm the presence or non-presence of hobos or alleyways. That's life.

On to the next thread...

So, I don't think the game and result were really that bad. Quite a bit of rustiness in certain players, and playing in that temp+humidity combination is v v hard - trust me, I've done it (back in 1925).

To the Hogg haters, you really could do with watching the match again - his cupped ear post scoring, for the briefest of moments, is clearly in response to the annoying boo-ing that the yank fans have been giving out over the previous scrum - you can clearly hear it and see Laidlaw look up to see what its all about. Why aren't you focusing on his outstanding take, superb sprint and score? i guess some folks will never be happy

On the Laidlaw topic, I thought he played better than he did in the 6Ns - the box kick is clearly a tactic from which we feel we can benefit, whether that's relieving pressure or gaining ground. My only small criticism of him is that he could maybe manage the referee better - our scrum dominance, including the bizarre penalty to the US, could have been made much more of in terms of opportunities to get points on the board.

Very pleased with the try, as you say it was a great catch and sprint, but really dislike the act of petulance at the end. Celebrate with your team mates that's fine, but don't mock the crowd. This isn't wendyball.

Imagine for instance if in response to the mass booing England received at Murrayfield if Brown or Burrell had done the cupped hand to the ear gesture after scoring their tries. They'd have been rightly condemned.



*Also on the never being happy, well we're Scottish aren't we!?

I'm with Glove39 on this, notwithstanding my eagerness to disagree with ASBO once more. This has nothing to do with Hogg in particular - I'd disapprove of any Scotland player behaving in that way.

As for Hogg, he's a wonderful talent and I'm delighted we have him. He's the best fullback we've had since Hastings (and Metcalfe was a fine player). All the noise about his behaviour at Glasgow is just that, noise. He clearly fell out with Toonie, and by all accounts they've patched it up. Long may that continue, because whilst Murchie is a perfectly solid and dependable fullback, if Glasgow are to become a true force in European rugby they need Hogg at 15 creating those special moments from nothing. When you can combine the grit of the Glasgow defence with players like Hogg, Maitland, Bennett, Matawalu and DTH then you have something special. Replace them with the likes of Murchie, Lamont, Dunbar and Pyrgos (all perfectly decent players) then you lose a huge amount.