Scotland reach for safety blankets with United States 40 minutes from

“We settled down at half-time, we looked after our jobs, and we made sure we held onto the ball and caused them problems in the second half”.

They scored a fifth try, another replacement, Duncan Weir, rounding off what was finally a minor rout.

Speaking to ONE News’ Andrew Saville in the aftermath to the Twickenham thriller, kiwi-on-the-ground Rush explained why the Pool A win was his top pick. Japan were surprisingly organised and I think America will be less so, but they’re more risky in their one-up runners. IRB, are you listening? They were disjointed and played as if the 15 players on the pitch had only been introduced to each other for the first time in the last moments before they ran out. Join The Roar for live scores from 11:30pm AEST. Once more directness and better ball retention were applied, the four tries required were polished off relatively quickly inside 25 minutes of the second 40.

There were two points in it again when Samu Manoa, the superior talent in the Eagles’ ranks, puffed out his cheeks and won the penalty in front of the posts for MacGinty to slot but Scotland’s newcomers were beginning to make their presence felt and Nel bludgeoned through the USA’s tiring defence – Greig Laidlaw, another in action earlier that he might have thought he would be, converting for a nine-point cushion. Scotland have been given a wake-up call… we’ve got a game on at Elland Road! After 40 minutes in which Scotland seemed to lack structure, the second half saw a focus on a solid set-piece as a means to launch forward drives which would create the space for Scotland’s backs. That the U.S. are improving and willing, but ultimately limited, and that Scotland can’t rely on their second string against even the weaker teams in this World Cup. His try was the ideal example of this. They moved the ball back inside, Scotland missed a few tackles, and amid a pile of bodies, stocky prop Titi Lamositele crossed the line.

Finn Russell, one of the survivors from the Japan victory, was successful with a 16th-minute penalty to put Scotland in front, the referee pulling play back for an American offence after a sustained period of Scottish pressure ended.

51′ This is turning into quite some game. Hayden Smith knocked on from a promising position but Pollock was playing advantage and MacGinty slotted another penalty – 13-6 to the U.S. and the shock was on, for approximately 80 more seconds. The score’s 18-16.

The fourth try and a bonus point arrived in 65 minutes thanks to a bulldozing leap for the line by Matt Scott.

Our midfield trio looked really sharp in attack, and I was particularly impressed by Matt Scott when he came on to work alongside Finn Russell and Mark Bennett.

Bonus points could yet come into play if Fiji spring a surprise against Wales on Thursday, but that was far from the mind of Australia coach Michael Cheika after Sunday’s romp established the Wallabies as the tournament’s top try scorers. 30-16.

Scotland changed 10 of the personnel that hosed Japan 45-10 in midweek.

The Scots have plenty of strength in depth in the second row, with Richie Gray, Jonny Gray and Tim Swinson already in the squad.

Duncan Weir then went over in the corner before Laidlaw secured the conversion to condemn an error strewn first half to history.