If it wasn’t completely unwise for the Audi Field speakers to play Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing on the field with the American Eagles and Scotland, then it certainly was a tempting fate.
A sizeable crowd – 17,418 people – came to the banks of the Anacostia River on a sweltering night and certainly paid their money and took a chance. So did World Rugby, and the game began. The eagle got nothing. But the Scots mostly took advantage of their chances, while the Americans largely didn’t, and the result was a team that slowly sank into the swamp, at least in the second half.
Having said that, American football cannot be said to be in trouble. The MLR, its men’s professional league, is coming to an end in its seventh season, the women’s game is strong and the global governing body has big ambitions for the 2031 and 2033 World Cups. This game is just a beginning, not a means to the end.
“Our mantra has always been, ‘The score doesn’t matter as long as we get better,'” U.S. coach Scott Lawrence told reporters after the final buzzer. “We’re moving toward something.” We want to play inspirational games. We want to inspire young players who want to be an Eagle one day. I think the players have shown everything.
Big winger Duhan van der Merwe got Scotland’s first try, slipping over tackle fly-half Adam Hastings fairly easily after five minutes of possession. ) dropped a kickable 3-pointer in pursuit of his seven points. What followed was a few minutes of American football, but also the first game of the shootout for Team USA. Scotland progressed, the Eagles defended solidly and the hosts escaped upfield, only for their own half AJ MacGinty to kick a three-pointer but failed to hit. The U.S. then conceded another penalty, with Hastings taking a corner kick and hooker Ewan Ashman teeing it up after a competitive lineout. Hastings changed his attitude again.
In the 26th minute, the same situation occurred again, Ashman scored again after another penalty kick, this time earning a yellow card for Eagles defender David Ainu, and Hastings kicked the ball towards the corner. .
The Eagles did try. Their own corner kick and breakaway didn’t work, but Scotland No. 8 Matt Fagerson got out of trouble in the chaos, was beaten pretty well himself, and then saw the ball scattered. A few phases later, the Eagles threw their bushy-haired center Tommaso Boni out of the Scotland defence. Home fans, mostly dressed in school, college or club colors, expressed their gratitude. McGinty made the score 21-7.
Had Eagles full-back Luke Carty’s 55-meter penalty kick not landed on the left side of the post, the result might have been 21-10. In fact, after that turnover, the Eagles found themselves mired in chaos at their own 22, with Hastings repeatedly kicking penalties into the corner, and after a lot of heaving and grunting, and a long period of official decision-making, Ashman scored a hat trick from a very short distance. At halftime, Hastings rewritten the score to 28-7.
Scots scrum-half George Horne had his first try of the second half, after the Eagles scrum-half conceded a penalty and field position, before fullback Kyle Rowe finished off the break. Hastings converted again.
With 25 minutes left, the Eagles removed their front row. The new props and prostitutes were packed away, pushed too early, and saw the whistle blow again. The game turned into a night where substitutes came on at regular intervals, the rhythm faded away and the fans struggled in front of the cameras.
It was very wet so slips and falls are explainable. The Hawks added a young prospect in the second row: Saia Uhila from the Utah Warriors, a very lively 37-year-old. With 10 minutes left in the game, the crowd chanted “USA! USA!” for the first time as they watched a chaotic round from their side, which Scotland won.
Despite this, Scotland failed to score in 20 minutes. It looked like the drought was about to end, but Kyle Steyn turned the ball over with the baseline begging. Even the home fans howled loudly. They groaned again when Fagerson made amends for his mistake in the United States try by controlling the ball behind a galloping scrum for an old-fashioned knockdown try. Hastings stayed perfect after the kickoff to make the score 42-7.
It started to rain, which was no surprise under a sky darker than a lobbyist’s conscience. Behind the West Stand, the Washington Monument disappeared into darkness.
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After all, the Eagles’ 23-man lineup (including 20 MLR players) performed well, and their physical fitness and combat effectiveness have improved. They also face a strong Scotland side, with coach Gregor Townsend including 13 of his 23-man squad from Glasgow, who won the Rugby United Championship in South Africa last month .
“For American rugby players as a whole, I think it shows that we can compete at this level as long as the national team is properly integrated into the conditions above the professional game,” Lawrence said. “So it’s really about that. The key to cooperation with the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Lawrence expressed his delight as he assessed Urshila and others taking their first steps in Test rugby. He drafted Conner Mooneyham, a winger from Northern California who attended Life University in Georgia and now works in Seattle.
The game ended with the Eagles storming the Scotland defence, only to be held back.
Townsend told the media it was a “frustrating game,” sarcastically noting that most of the penalties were conceded by the U.S. and saying: “I think we would have liked to have continued to play, but it was just that The second kick is more accurate.
All in all, though, he thought the job was well done. Scotland now travel south to face Chile and Uruguay.
