HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM
RUGBY SCOTS ON TOUR Last-gasp miss seals shock loss AMERICA......30 SCOTLAND....29
GREGOR TOWNSEND gave his sloppy Scots a Houston hammering after they made the wrong kind of history.
Toony watched in fury as the Yanks snatched their first triumph over a top-tier nation.
Scotland could have avoided defeat at the death after a late Dougie Fife try cut the deficit to just a point.
But Blair Kinghorn sent his conversion wide to the delight of the home fans.
And Townsend has warned his flops huge improvements must be made before Saturday’s clash with Argentina.
The Scots boss said: “So much of it was down to poor discipline. We surrendered momentum at crucial moments by giving away soft penalties.
“It’s a huge downer and if it was the last game on tour we would be even more disappointed.
“But we have one more game and we have a tougher opponent who have just lost two games to Wales.
“They will be fired up so we will have to be much better to right the wrongs of this defeat.”
Skipper Stuart Hogg pulled no punches in his assessment and said: “Everyone is bitterly disappointed. Mistakes by us allowed the Americans to get into the game.
“It is one thing making a mistake, it is another making two with the snowball effect that comes.
“The majority of their points came from our errors.”
Kinghorn had given Scotland a dream start by touching down after only 60 seconds – thanks to a brilliant break by Hogg.
A penalty try followed by hooker George Turner’s fourth score of the tour then gave the Dark Blues a commanding lead.
But the USA dominated the bulk of the second half to surge ahead – only for Townsend’s side to grab a get-out-of-jail-free card with Fife’s stoppage-time try in the corner.
Kinghorn stepped up to save face but fluffed his lines to seal a shock loss.