Stafford scores

Tap and go penalty five metres out. Morris crashes up, and from the next phase McConnell gives it out the back door to Thompson who puts McDowall through a hole and over. Horne converts.

Scotland 64-0 USA

Horne!

USA kick up our left wing, Duhan collects and cuts through a big hole. He offloads inside to Rowe, who goes inside him to Horne, who is under the sticks and converts his own try.

Scotland 71-0 USA

Morris on for debut

Harri Morris makes his debut, replacing Paddy Harrison.

Rowe in for another

Good hands down the right, Rowe finds Dobie who gives it back to Rowe for the score. Horne converts.

Scotland 57-0 USA

Two subs

A forward pass from USA this time, and a chance for two Scottish changes.

Max Williamson and George Horne replace Marshall Sykes and Darcy Graham.

A chance for Duhan to regain control of the scoring table?

Scraps!

A rather scrappy second half so far, frustrations boiling over for the visitors. We’ve had two (rather tame) comings together so far, and both teams have been told by referee Rob Schneider that he would like it to be the last.

Play restarts with a USA scrum just outside their half after a forward pass from Scotland.

Seven first half tries

Apologies again for our server dropping for much of the opening quarter. It’s a record first-half winning margin for Scotland, and with two tries each, Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham sit on 33 and 32 tries respectively at the top of the men’s try-scoring charts.

It’s been a good half for Jamie Dobie, who got two tries of his own. And Liam McConnell will be delighted with his debut so far, providing an excellent offload assist for Duhan’s first.

Dylan Richardson got the other try, on his first Murrayfield start.

Back underway – and we’re level on the try scoring charts!

More server issues – grrr.

Firstly, five half time changes – D’Arcy Rae, Rory Sutherland, Scott Cummings, Jack Dempsey and Adam Hastings replaced by Nathan McBeth, Murphy Walker, Alex Samuel, Magnus Bradbury (winning a first cap in three years) and Ross Thompson.

And one more try to bring you – Darcy Graham and Jamie Dobie stormed down the right wing, trading passes, and the former went over to tie up with van der Merwe at the top of the men’s scoring charts. He is also now the outright top try scorer at Murrayfield!

Scotland 50-0 USA.

Forward pass ends the half

Scotland get to five metres out but a forward pass kills the move.

A convincing opening 40.

Penalty Scotland

Scotland playing on USA’s 22 after kicking a penalty out there. Still coming forward with the clock in the red…

Darcy in for a second!

Scotland kick out in the left corner then steal the lineout.

Excellent hands from Ollie Smith and Kyle Rowe, and Darcy dives into the right corner for his second of the day.

Scotland 45-0 USA

Paddy almost goes the length!

The ball comes loose and it’s hacked forward – and it’s Scotland’s hooker, Paddy Harrison, briefly leading the charge!

Toby Fricker gets ahead of him but misses the ball, and Harrison kicks it over the line, but Dominic Besag dives on it first for the goal line dropout.

USA penalty

Our visitors kick a penalty for a Scottish offside into the right corner, around 10m out.

Sixth try!

Stafford McDowall with the dummy and he’s right up the middle. The simplest of offloads inside to Dobie who goes in for his second. Hastings converts.

Scotland 40-0 USA

Apologies

Issues with our web server today, you’ve been denied of what I’m sure would have been some excellent descriptions of the play to date.

To update you, Scotland have just gone 35-0 up! It’s been tries from Dylan Richardson, Darcy Graham, Jamie Dobie and two from Duhan van der Merwe.

I’m so sorry that you’ve missed such an excellent Scottish start!

Kick cleared

USA kick into touch on their own 10. Scottish ball there.

Kick off!

COME ON SCOTLAND!

Anthem time!

Time for a sing song.

Teams about to walk out!

Duhan van der Merwe takes the field to a standing ovation, marking his 50th cap for Scotland.

The two teams are about to follow!

Debut boys

The big news from the team sheets is that Liam McConnell, leading the team into the building below, will make his Scotland debut.

And it could be an equally special day for Harri Morris, seen warming in the yellow bib, who is poised to debut from the bench.

Teams reminder

Howdy!

It’s Quilter Nations Series time!

I hope y’all are excited to welcome USA to Scottish Gas Murrayfield today for our first of four games this month.

Get the snacks out, get comfy and stay right here for every expertly crafted, supremely witty and always humble update from the game.