Despite having Nathan Hines sent-off just before half-time, Scotland rampaged to a 65-23 win over the USA, scoring ten tries to the Americans two, to wrap its six match North American tour with five wins and a single loss to Canada.
"I am delighted that we won with fourteen men," said McGeechan following the huge win. "To play like that with fourteen men is a massive performance. Everybody stepped up and they knew they were going to have to work harder for themselves and another fifteenth as well.
"What we said at half time is we wanted to step up our work rate rather than just go as we had been going. We scored again after half time. I think it was as much control and the head's up play is what was good. It didn't look as though we had fourteen men I think -- which is good."
USA coach Tom Billups was a little shell shocked by the display -- but demurred in his praise of the tourists ability to recover from the loss to Canada last week.
"If you looked at the velocity and the desire shown to play rugby (by Scotland) -- there wasn't nearly as many dropped balls as last week in Vancouver. And some of that was the lack of our physicality up front. I think the Scotland team is classy, well coached -- and I think it proved out today," he said.
The US opened with great purpose,linking multiple phases of ball with few errors, and it was obvious a lot of good work had been put in by the Eagles during their week together as the game got underway in front of 2,400 fans at Balboa Park in San Francisco.
At five minutes debutant Mike Hercus made a break for the US around mid-field -- and suddenly found open space with Phil Eloff and Jason Keyter in support. Hercus off-loaded to Eloff as the Scottish defense came across -- and then Eloff returned the favour to Hercus. The fly-half then spotted wing Mose Timoteo on the right-wing and flung a long but strong pass to put him away to the right of the posts. Link Wilfley converted and the Eagles had the early 7-0 lead.
In the ninth minute the US had a chance to increase its lead -- but Wilfley missed a penalty from 40 metres.
In the tenth minute Scotland intercepted a US pass at the 22 metre line -- and eventually ground down to the home side's five metre line before the Eagle's reclaimed possession and cleared the pressure. On the quick restart the Scots spread the ball wide -- with a two man overlap exposing Timoteo. The young wing stuck to his assignment making a great open field tackle on Chris Paterson but a supporting Brendan Laney gathered the loose ball in -- touching down under the posts before also converting the score -- 7-7 after 12 minutes.
An off-side call by Pablo Deluca gave Scotland the opportunity to take the lead with Laney slotting it over from 25 metres to give the tourists a 10-7 lead after 17 minutes.
Scotland continued to make good in-roads but knock-ons and handling errors coupled with cover tackling by the US took a number of opportunities away.
After a quarter Laney made a break to the US 15 metre before Duncan Hodge gathered in a ball knocked on by a US hand. Hodge found Rory Kerr on the wing -- who won a race to the corner for the unconverted try -- 15-7 Scotland.
A high tackle on Phil Eloff gave Wilfley his first chance at a penalty goal -- with the Rotherham player missing from 40 metres.
The US continued to attack well and an offside penalty against Scotland netted the Americans another shot at goal from 23 metres left -- the inside centre making amends for the earlier miss to cut the lead to 15-10 Scotland.
Second row Nathan Hines provided a nice bit of finishing with a try at 28 minutes. Hooker Gordon Bulloch drove to the US five metre line before the Scots spun the ball right -- with prop Mattie Stewart taking the ball in close before passing to Hines for the score. Laney converted to extend the Scottish lead to twelve 22-10.
US captain Dave Hodges came off with a blood injury at the half hour -- with Conrad Hodgson replacing the Llanelli back rower as his injury was assessed.
Andrew Henderson then came on for Glenn Metcalfe as the fullback pulled up with a muscle problem.
The US then gave away a penalty for killing the ball near its own goal line -- with Scotland opting for the five metre lineout. Captain Stuart Grimes controlled the ball before Deluca provided the Americans relief with a penalty for the Scottish leaving their feet.
Scotland scored on forty minutes with scrum-half Mike Blair selling a dummy from ten metres before finding Duncan Hodge -- who touched down under the posts. Laney added his conversion to make the score a comfortable 29-10 to Scotland.
The one bad news from the night for Scotland was the dismissal of try-scorer Hines just before half-time as he was given his marching orders for a a punch on Dan Henderson, Scotland's first ever send-off -- with Wilfley kicking a penalty from fifteen metres narrowing the Scottish lead to 29-13 as the half-time whistle blew.
Scotland opened the second half scoring just two minutes in with the US allowing an over lap on the left wing despite the man advantage. Chris Paterson scampered in untouched for the unconverted try and it was 34-13 for Scotland after 42 minutes played.
The US lineout continued to work well, with good possession by Luke Gross and the resulting rolling mauls netting some good territory, but miscues in the US mid-field resulted in several knock-ons. Jone Naqica appeared to be through for a try which Deluca then brought back for an obstruction call against the Scots. The bewildering lack of advantage gave the Eagles three points -- but took away a possible converted try when it was crucially needed.
In the 54th minute Dan Dorsey came into a Scottish ruck from an offside position but Laney could not find the handle on the resulting 22 metre penalty kick -- and the score stayed at 34-16. But on the restart Wilfley attemtped a small grubber for a drop-out -- but Andrew Henderson gathered it in -- going in untouched for the converted try. 41-16 Scotland.
Things went from bad to worse for the Americans when prop Dorsey got shown the yellow for punching and both teams were down to 14 men.
At the one hour mark Duncan Hodge jumped on a US miscue -- dribbling the ball some 25 metres before falling on it for the solo try -- Laney converting to extend the rout to 48-16.
Link Wilfley attempted a drop-goal in the 66th minute but the slightly delayed effort was charge down -- with Naqica and Timoteo cleaning it up -- before a clearance chip gave Blair the space he needed for a 25 metre break. He passed to a trailing Grimes who then linked with centre Andy Craig for his first test try. Laney missed the conversion -- 53-16.
A minute later Paterson scored another try -- the US defense in tatters -- and with the Laney conversion the Scots were pounding the nails home -- leading 60-16.
Flanker Jason White then found the try-line as the Scottish passed at will -- and the US could offer nothing but token resistance as the score climbed to 65-16.
The USA got a measure of respect back late -- breaking the Scottish defense with a try from Jason Keyter. Hercus worked the ball from a ruck to free the inside centre for the try. Wilfley converted to make the score 65-23 to Scotland.
Man of the Match: Brendan Laney made amends for a shaky outing against Canada last week -- scoring 20 points on a try, six conversions and a penalty. But more importantly were his probing runs up the middle that set up a number of Scottish scoring efforts.
Moment of the Match: Chris Paterson scored two minutes into the second half -- despite the Americans having the man advantage because of the Nathan Hines send-off just prior to the interval.
Villain of the Match: Nathan Hines -- with his record-setting first-ever send off in 130 years of Scottish rugby. The red card offense -- the result of a punch on replacement American player Dan Anderson could net the New Zealand born second row further sanctions as match officials examine the video.
The Teams:
Scotland: 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes (c), 6 Donnie McFadyen, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Michael Blair, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Rory Kerr, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Andrew Craig, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves: Marcus Di Rollo, Andrew Hall, Craig Smith, Graeme Burns, Andrew Henderson, Steve Scott
Unused: Allister Hogg
United States: 1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Eric Reed, 6 Aaron Satchwell, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dave Hodges (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 Jason Keyter, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Link Wilfley, 14 Mose Timoteo, 15 John Buchholz
Reserves: Johnny Naqica, Dan Anderson, Conrad Hodgson, Kimball Kjar, Andy McGarry, John Tarpoff
Unused: Riaan Hamilton
Referee: Deluca p.
Points Scorers:
Scotland
Tries: Hines N.J. 1, Kerr R.C. 1, Laney B.J. 1, Craig A. 1, Henderson A.R. 1, Hodge D.W. 2, Paterson C.D. 2, White J.P.R. 1
Conv: Laney B.J. 6
Pen K.: Laney B.J. 1
United States
Tries: Keyter J.C. 1, Timoteo M.A. 1
Conv: Wilfley L.M. 2
Pen K.: Wilfley L.M. 3
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