'Shell shock...hard to take': The USA reaction to record drubbing in Scotland loss

United States coach Scott Lawrence admitted his side were “shell-shocked” by Scotland’s intensity as they tumbled to one of the worst defeats in their Test history at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Eagles have twice conceded a century of points – a record 106-8 thumping by England at Twickenham in August 1999, plus a 104-14 home hammering by New Zealand in Washington in 2021.

It was only seven years ago the USA beat Scotland – the only time in six previous meetings – when Gregor Townsend’s men succumbed 30-29 in Houston on the second summer tour of the head coach’s tenure.

In July 2024 Scotland racked up a 42-7 win in stifling heat in Washington, but any semblance of a competitive contest swiftly disappeared on Saturday once Scotland scored their first try in the fifth minute.

Two more followed in quick succession, seven in all by half-time, with the hosts scoring six more after the break including four in the final 10 minutes of an 85-0 rout, Scotland’s biggest ever win at Murrayfield and their third biggest Test victory overall.

“You don’t go in thinking you’re going to be 85 points on the other side of it, you know,” said Lawrence. “I think we knew that where we are as a developing team, that the last 10 to 15 minutes of the game are always going to be difficult.

“I think the first 15 minutes probably told the story; it gave Scotland a lot of confidence, probably. It was a little bit of a shell-shock for our guys on the occasion at Murrayfield, and then they’re just trying to chase the game after that.

“I think you have to go through these experiences. They’re hard to take, but you have to take them on the chin and learn from them.

“When you get beat 85-0, it is easy to say that everything went wrong, but there were some things in the game which were very clear. Scotland were clinical in exploiting a couple of areas, they exploited them a number of times, so there are some common themes we can work on to shore up going forward.”

Ten of the USA’s match-day 23 are currently ‘unattached’ and looking for new clubs after the recent collapse of three Major League Rugby teams, with the Houston Sabercats announcing their withdrawal in September, following the earlier loss of Miami Sharks and NOLA Gold.

With two California teams, based in Los Angeles and San Diego, merging to create a new franchise, the Californian Legion, the MLR has been reduced from 11 teams to just seven.

But after missing out on the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the 2031 hosts did secure qualification for RWC2027 seven weeks ago by beating Samoa 29-13 in a fifth-place play-off in the Pacific Nations Cup, and Lawrence rejected the notion his side were overawed by playing at Murrayfield.

“We didn’t get that sense from the players throughout the week,” he said. “If we look at the reality of it, it’s been September 14th [against Samoa] since our guys have been in a competitive environment and playing.

“Professionally, you go play Scotland with 13 Glasgow players [in their 23] that are in the middle of their season, lots of cohesion, they’re battle-hardened. It was always going to be difficult in terms of the pace of the game for us, but I think it’s just where we are right now. That doesn’t mean that we’re saying we would have beaten Scotland if we got their best day and our best day. Scotland is ahead of us at the moment, but we feel like had we been together a little bit more, I think it would have been a different margin today.”

The immediate focus for Lawrence and his players was a flight to Georgia, via Istanbul in Turkey, ahead of taking on Richard Cockerill’s Lelos in Batumi next Saturday, before completing their November programme with a Test in Romania the following week.

With those matches inside the official Test window, the Eagles will be able to call upon the likes of France-based props David Ainu’u (Toulouse) and Jack Iscaro (Stade Français) and back-rower Nafi Ma’afu (Montauban), plus Leicester prop Tonga Kofe, as well as former Scotland wing Rufus McLean, who was left out of the Murrayfield fixture.

“It’s important that we perform in the last two games in the November series, from a rankings perspective, and then we’ll start to roll into our 2027 planning from there,” added Lawrence.

Asked how difficult it would be to lift the side after their Murrayfield mauling, USA captain Jason Damn said the new additions to the group would lift morale.

“Picking up is only if you fall down,” he said. “Obviously, that’s a big loss, but when you approach things with the same mindset, whether you win or lose, you don’t want to get too high or too low. Obviously, there was a lot of emotion at the end of that Samoa win, and a lot of emotion here. We’re just trying to find the fellas, bring them together, and just keep focusing on what we need to, come in tight and stand together. Don’t let the highs get too high and the lows get too low, and you don’t find those up and downs affect you as much as maybe people think they should.

“There’s always an injection of energy when new guys come in – it’s like all of our mates coming back together. Any 23 we put out there, I back us all, and we’re going to push whoever we can as hard as we can.”