Preview: USA v Scotland
11 Jul 2024Scotland face USA at Audi Field, Washington DC in the second fixture of the Skyscanner Americas Tour tomorrow night (kick off 11.30pm BST) - live on TNT Sports 1.
The quotes
Head Coach Gregor Townsend said: “(Washington) is a great city to experience. It’s warm!
“We’ve been delighted with the intensity the players have brought in training. It’s a new team, they’re fresh and they’ll be ready to go.
“We know it’ll be a challenge this week with our opposition, a highly motivated opposition, but also with dealing with the weather conditions.”
The teams
The previous meetings
- USA 30-29 Scotland – BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, 16 June 2018
- Scotland 39-16 USA – Elland Road, Leeds, 27 September 2015
- USA 6-24 Scotland – BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, 8 June 2014
- Scotland 39-15 USA – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, 20 October 2003
- USA 23-65 Scotland – Boxer Stadium, San Francisco, 22 June 2002
- Scotland 53-6 USA – Scottish Gas Murrayfield, 4 November 2000
The stats
- Scotland defeated Canada by a margin of 61 points last week (73-12), their largest ever men’s Test victory against North American competition and the first time they have ever won a Test by 50+ points away from home, excluding neutral venues.
- Scotland have the highest tackle success rate of any team in Tier 1 Test rugby over the last 12 months (89.4%), while only New Zealand (27%) have evaded a higher share of the tackles they’ve faced over the last year than Scotland (25%).
- Among the 182 players to have played 400+ minutes of Tier 1 Test rugby over the last 12 months, Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe is one of just three to have beaten 5+ defenders per 80 minutes (5.8), alongside Mark Tele’a (9.4) and Damian Penaud (5.5).
