Scots' class shines through

Alan Bulloch was excellent on his debut

Scotland 53-6 USA

A solid if unspectacular first-half gave way to a six-try second-half display by the Scots as the fitness and ability of the professionals eventually told.

The Americans defended stoutly in the opening period, but Scotland, with Gregor Townsend and debutant Alan Bulloch inspirational, turned on the style in the second half.

Townsend notched up a personal tally of 33 points including two tries.

The result and performance were exactly what the Scotland selectors and supporters would have hoped for before next week's match with Australia.

Gregor Townsend notched up 33 points

Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes due to crowd congestion and those who made it in for the pre-match entertainment witnessed a spectacular light show.

When the match did get under way, Scotland immediately put the visitors under pressure.

Some good attacking play brought the Scots to the opposition 22 and they were awarded a penalty when the USA tried to kill the play from an offside position.

Gregor Townsend, restored to kicking duties, was presented with a simple penalty to give the Scots a 3-0 lead after just three minutes.

A few minutes later the Castres player doubled that lead from an almost identical position after a similar indiscretion by the Americans.

Effortless

Townsend made it three out of three when he kicked his third penalty after 15 minutes, this time from a more difficult position, but he made it look effortless as he put a bit of daylight between the teams.

The USA were their own worst enemies early on, conceding a fourth penalty for offside after 18 minutes which Townsend duly converted.

That said, Scotland were playing some nice rugby - keeping the ball alive well and rarely allowing the USA into their half.

Midway through the first period, though, the USA did threaten the Scots' goalline and only good defence by Scotland prevented the first try of the match.

Good passing inside the Scotland 22 almost allowed the USA in at the corner, with the home side only just averting the danger.

John Leslie holds off a challenge

Scotland were almost rewarded themselves for superb passing when they broke from inside their own 22 to within five metres of the USA line - John Leslie looked certain to score, only to be foiled by a last-ditch tackle.

The match hit a lull for 10 minutes before Scotland were penalised for going offside inside their own 22 and the USA got their first points on the board with a successful penalty by Grant Wells.

Scotland pushed forward in search of the opening try and they got over the USA line on the brink of half-time, only for the referee to bring play back for a knock-on by Chris Paterson.

Townsend notched his fifth penalty in the last piece of action before half-time to make the score 15-3 - a fair reflection of how the first half had gone.

Scotland finally got the try their first-half play merited with 10 minutes of the second half gone when captain Budge Pountney rounded off an excellent move.

Numerical advantage

Kurt Shuman's pass was intercepted by Leslie and the ball was moved to Bryan Redpath and Cammy Murray before the captain took over.

Despite not being the paciest man on the field, he evaded a couple of attempted tackles to cross the line - Townsend mishit his conversion attempt for his first failed kick of the night.

Naivalu was sin-binned a few minutes later, and almost immediately the Scots capitalised on their numerical advantage - John Leslie eventually going over after a big push.

Alan Bulloch on the attack

This time Townsend's kick did go over and the USA could have been forgiven for giving up the ghost at this stage as Scotland's full-time status began to tell.

Chris Paterson got the score of the game halfway with a quarter of the game left - a move down the left wing involving Alan Bulloch, Steel, Petrie and Paterson culminating in the fullback touching down to leave Townsend a straightforward kick.

Grant Wells kicked his second penalty to offer the visitors some respite, but the match was over as a contest.

Townsend went over for the Scots' fourth try after Cammy Murray was stopped just short of the line and he successfully converted the kick.

Leslie and Townsend each added second tries in the dying minutes - the latter kicking one and missing the other conversion.

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Teams:

Scotland: Paterson, C. Murray, A. Bulloch, J. Leslie, Steel, Townsend, Redpath, Smith, Brotherstone, Graham, S. Murray, Grimes, Petrie, Taylor, Pountney.

Replacements: S. Scott, McIlwham, White, Beveridge, Hodge, Joiner, R. Metcalfe.

USA: Shuman, Naivalu, Eloff, Grobler, Delai, Wells, Dalzell, Clayton, Khasigian, Still, Gross, Farner, Hodges, Lyle, Fifita.

Replacements: Flynn, Kluempers, Kane, Care, Timoteo, Wilfley, Blom.

Referee: Pablo Deluca (Argentina)