Scotland 'A' 13 United States 9 (halftime: Scotland 'A' 10-3)

Francois Viljoen kicked three penalty goals in a 13-9 loss to Scotland ‘A’, a night-and-day improvement compared with the Churchill Cup opener against the England Saxons.

Trailing 10-0 after a half hour, the USA got on the board in first-half injury time. Match captain Viljoen hit two more in the opening 15 minutes of the second period to bring the Eagles within a point, before Scottish flyhalf Gordon Ross closed out the scoring at 68 minutes.

Scrummaging and defense were notably improved. “I was absolutely thrilled with the defense,” coach Peter Thorburn said in a prepared statement.

Having started at fullback, Viljoen played most of the game at number 10, his position with former club Washington, after Valenese Malifa retired with an injury. Backrowers Inaki Basauri and Dan Payne earned their debut caps off the replacements bench.

The loss drops the US to 0-2 and likely into a final-round match with archrival Canada in 10 days’ time. Canada, which lost to Ireland ‘A,’ meets the New Zealand Maori on Friday night.

Before the match, USA Rugby chief executive Nigel Melville touched off controversy by saying that Scotland, which fielded 10 internationals, was not playing in the spirit of the tournament. “I thought this was meant to be a development tournament, but obviously not. Maybe their first-team players are still in development,” the Scotsman newspaper quoted him as saying.

“This year our ‘A’ team are playing minus 26 players who are being rested ahead of the Rugby World Cup this autumn, so, if anything, we are two players weaker than we were last season," Scotland coach Frank Hadden replied.

The USA fielded its best available team.

Comments

[Go The Eagles]

The played great but should be dissapointed with a loss. They could have and should have won this game

[performance]

I can see it now, 0-3 in the Churchill Cup but...... "things are on track", "everyting looks good", "just need more time together" "narrowly lost to Scotland" "need to eliminate mistakes" etc etc etc

[doug lyons]

Last I checked we haven't played Canada yet. Why not congratulate the team on a good reply to the England match and wait and see how the Canada match turns out.

[Eagles Fan]

That would be too hard to post something positive. It's so much easier to take pot-shots from the cheap seats.

While not not a win, the Eagles played their hearts out. Until professional rugby is introduced in the US and the Eagles can concentrate 100% on rugby they will always be the long-shot when up against professional sides (and mostly professional sides for that matter). As long as they are amateurs, this will not change.

All we, as supporters, can (and should) expect of them is to play their hearts out. If they lose, they lose. I'm more interested in the effort put forth by the Eagles. They let it all hang out yesterday against Scotland. It was an entertaining match, way better than the Saxons match, and I was proud of them.

[performance]

I'm not critcising the players, of course they "played their hearts out" it's the organization behind them that stinks.

[THE_ESTB]

Like everything else in America if you beleive you can do better or help, than be a StakeHolder. Otherwise all this complaining doesn't do anyone anygood, honestly do you think people who "CAN" make decesions really read these post!

[Eagles Fan]

Fair enough.

Although in defense of the organization... what kind of results should they be expected to get with amatuer players in a professional world? Like the players themselves, they are also doing the best with what they're given.

Now, it is absolutely 100% clear that the US needs some sort of professional league if they are ever going to sniff the lofty goals set by the new administration. If they cannot deliver this, then judement should be passed. They have less than one year at the helm of USA Rugby and positive things are coming out of Colorado. Things don't happen overnight and in the case of professionalism in the US, may not happen in years. I'd rather see how things shake out and give it some time before I pass any judgement.

[performance]

I have been and am a stakeholder

[Phil]

I thought the game was fun to watch. Media zone is a good thing.

Clever was very good. Emrick the same. Stanfill is the man.

The Eagles' improvement in the scrum had to do with Scotland 'B' being no where near as good as England 'D' and the Eagles selecting MacDonald. Gross and Parker will really help this team.

My one gripe is Thorburn using as an excuse that the US players are amateur. Is this why we are paying him the big bucks, to remind us that we have no professional players? I did think it cool that Melville was sticking up for the team with the Scots.

Saw Hercus running water, I think he is the real coach of this team.

[Jonathon]

Big match coming up against the Canadians.

In the six matches prior to Peter Thorburn's role as coach the Eagles were 3-3 against the Maple Leafs. Even in defeat the Eagles were only beaten by a combined 10 points in their three losses.

Thorburn's Eagles are 0-2 verses Canada losing by a combined 64 points. The question is with all this IRB money can Thorburn's Eagles win or even keep the loss respectable?

[performance]

Melville would be far better employed as the Director of Rugby specifically for the Eagles (which, of course was the job that he originally interviewed for) rather than having him worry about the CIPP's coming in from North Dakota.....He is the man to build a professional Eagles team, just let him worry about that, nothing else!

[Hugoagogo]

performance - you're a dick

[performance]

very insightful

[Jason Gatties]

I was proud of the way the boys played against Scotland. Considering the thrashing they got from the Saxons, they could have just laid down for Scotland. They played very well in my opinion.

[crossera Eagle]

The players did well against Scotland in terms of effort and the team has certainly improved from a fragile state last year. Seems like the administration bashing continues and I still don't get it. It seems like no one on this board has any insight into organizational change. While the US was stagnant as amateurs the other countries have been well funded and are not just professional, but improved at being professional. This means THE GAP HAS GOTTEN BIGGER. E.g. Analysis, fitness, nutrition, skill development, mental, etc.. Take New Zealand and England. Both professional, one has certainly outpaced the other in developing its rugby playing population. Why? Because professional organizations compete and challenge, get upper hands, get beat, and ultimately improve the status quo.

Canada to an extent has benefitted from this not because they have better players, but because they don't have work visa issues into these countries where professionalism is available their players are on tap to learn.
The point is this.. Results will not be immediate, even with the injection of cash. Results will take time but the building blocks are in place and more stones are being layed every day. Yes, the message will be, "played better, still lost, need more time" because we will need time to first be professional, then do what Americans do best; improve the wheel. The measuring stick is not results over the course of the next 12 months, its comparing the Eagles against themselves or comparing day to day player, youth, coaching improvement against yesterday. If its better, close your yap and start rowing in the same direction. If its not, get constructive.

[serzhantovo]

A side note: What's with BRAVIA across the Eagles' jerseys? Is SONY sponsoring our boys now? Any word on the details? Or is this another sponsorship without substance while the Eagles soldier on without sufficient funds? If anyone has info on this, I'm all ears. Good luck against the Canucks! I believe!

[M.O.]

The following is listed on the USA Rugby website:

SONY, based in Tokyo, with Sony America based in New York City is the official title sponsor for the for the USA Rugby Men's National Team and also the official jersey sponsor. Sony is the leading manufacturer of audio, video, communications and
information technology products for the consumer and professional market. With the help of Sony, USA Rugby is able to deliver the highest quality electronic media
entertainment.