Houston may be one of the energy capitals of the world, but while the Texas oil flows year-round, the summer heat and humidity drains the muscle power of even the fittest athletes.
Scotland overcome heat and USA for hard-fought win in Houston
The USA Eagles hoped to profit from their experience of the conditions on Saturday night as they returned to the city for their third high-profile friendly here against Tier 1 opponents in as many years, but Scotland shrewdly did most of the hard work early on to earn Vern Cotter a win in his first match as head coach.
This was a warm-up for their encounter in next year’s World Cup, since both are in Pool B along with South Africa, Samoa and Japan. With the temperature at 31C at kick-off, and humidity wrapping the stadium like a 15-tog blanket, warm was the operative word.
“That was tough, we’re not used to playing in heat like this,” said the Scotland captain, Greig Laidlaw. “It was a dry night but the ball was slippy.” Cotter said the heat created fatigue, which bred mistakes – the most serious committed by the Americans, who entered the game optimistic of victory. However, for the third year in a row they were unable to achieve a prestige triumph that would have acted like a neon sign illuminating the nation’s recent progress.
“I think the game tonight never really picked up any momentum, certainly not from our side but I think in general it was a very stop-start affair,” said the USA coach, Mike Tolkin, who was frustrated by his team’s continued growing pains.
Coming after the 51-3 defeat to Wales in Cardiff in March, this was a solid enough display from Scotland, though they picked up several injuries that Cotter said would be assessed on Sunday.
Scotland are 10th in the IRB rankings, the US 18th. The Scots have waited a long time for Cotter, an understated New Zealander and sometime farmer who was appointed in May last year but remained in France until the expiry of his contract with Clermont Auvergne last month.
“We’ll come back to basics. We want to do the simple things well,” the 52-year-old said. Scotland’s summer tour continues with games against Canada, Argentina and South Africa later this month. The Eagles next meet Japan and Canada, with the undoubted highlight of the year coming in November when they host the All Blacks in Chicago.
Italy beat the US 30-10 here in 2012 but Tolkin’s side ran Ireland far closer in Houston this time last year, losing 15-12 in a tryless, and often trying, friendly before a record home crowd of 20,181. This was far more open and entertaining, though the attendance was fractionally lower: 20,001, a fair number of them in kilts.
Cotter handed debuts to Glasgow Warriors pair Gordon Reid and Finn Russell, and Blair Cowan of London Irish. Alex Allan, who has just joined the Warriors from Edinburgh, was a second-half substitute.
Six of the Eagles’ starting XV play in England. Tolkin gave a first start to fly-half Shalom Suniula, the younger brother of centre Andrew Suniula, while Samu Manoa, the Northampton Saints lock, was unavailable.
Laidlaw saw his penalty kick from about 10 metres inside the US-half cannon off the left-hand post less than three minutes in, but his aim was truer from much shorter range a couple of minutes later. US full-back Chris Wyles levelled the scores with an 11th-minute penalty, which proved to be about as good as it got for the Eagles.
The first try came after a quarter of an hour, as Laidlaw fed Tim Visser for an easy score under the posts. It was a satisfying return to international rugby for the winger, who broke a leg last October. Only a fumble prevented him from scoring again soon afterwards.
The home side were further disrupted by two injuries in the first 20 minutes, with hooker Phil Thiel and Andrew Suniula forced off – an early test for the Eagles’ bench, which Tolkin had identified in the build-up as stronger than in previous years.
Scotland pressed down the left and Visser was denied a second try following a TMO review that determined he had lost control of the ball as he dived over the line. Indiscipline promptly cost the US, as prop Olive Kilifi was yellow-carded for collapsing a scrum before the French referee, Pascal Gauzere, awarded a penalty try. It was converted to make the score 17-3.
The US immediately responded with a powerful drive to the line – and over, it appeared. But on review, captain Todd Clever was found guilty of double movement. Still, it roused the already boisterous crowd, who were energised again when Wyles reduced the deficit with a 30-metre penalty kick 11 minutes into the second period.
However, American hopes of a stunning turnaround evaporated in the 66th minute with the highlight of the night, as full-back Stuart Hogg superbly collected a kick at halfway and dashed imperiously down the wing. Laidlaw converted the try from an acute angle and the tourists saw out the rest of the match.
Clever said that the US did not recover from the setback of his close call at the line. “The callback kind of took the wind out of our sails. We’ve just got to be mentally stronger than that,” he said.
“They didn’t have a platform to really launch their game but they never gave up,” said Cotter. “They’ve got powerful runners, powerful athletes. The energy coming from their team – they just need to channel it.”
