Townsend’s men have wee problem in Houston as US show that size does matter
It was a weekend of surprises. England were 12-0 to the good against South Africa after 13 minutes but failed to add to that score and lost. Scotland scored a cracker of a try against the USA Eagles on exactly 60 seconds after Stuart Hogg sent Blair Kinghorn streaking towards the try line. After 35 minutes the Scots were 21-6 ahead and still the Eagles found a way to win, their first against Scotland.
Gregor Townsend fielded a young and inexperienced side, several of whom did their prospects no harm at all. George Horne looked lively, won a penalty try and might have scored a second when his brother Peter put him through a gap only for the scrum-half to spill the ball.
His half-back partner Adam Hastings also emerged with a heap of positives. The odd kick went astray but more often than not they found their mark and one, midway through the first half, bounced into touch six inches from the corner flag. Hastings looked better in the first half when Scotland had some ball to play with, less impressive when the Eagles dominated possession and the same was true for most of his colleagues, but his final pass for Dougie Fife’s final score was a thing of beauty and could, on another day, have won this match for Scotland.
Instead, Kinghorn missed a tricky conversion just as he had missed a much easier penalty attempt in the first half. Despite those mistakes off the tee, though, he was the pick of the Scots and in addition to that early try he made a brilliant break in both halves of the match.
The difference between the two teams was sheer size and bulk and you’ll know what they say when a good big ‘un takes on a good little ‘un. Nowhere was this more evident than in the midfield. Paul Lasike, a Kiwi of Tongan heritage, was up against another Kiwi, Nick Grigg, with Scottish heritage but the Eagle had an advantage of at least four stones.
It was the same story in the forwards where almost every set scrum ended up with the front row forwards chewing the grass although, by the looks of him, the Eagles hooker Joe Taufete’e is accustomed to something a lot more substantial. The 20 stone hooker scored a try late in the first half and another early in the second to effectively win this match.
The second of the scores was truly eye-popping as he brushed off a double tackle from Luke Hamilton and his own opposite number George Turner on his way to the line.
It isn’t just in individual tackles that size matters. The Scots never got to grips with Taufete’e but actually coped with Lasike pretty well. The modern game has numerous breakdowns, 100-plus per match, and at just about every one of them someone in blue is having to shunt someone in white off the ball to prevent a turnover. When the opposition are that much bigger, the smaller players are worn out that much faster and Scotland’s second-half performance looked weary. On one occasion, Matt Fagerson made the mistake of running straight into Taufete’e and the Scottish No 8 was bundled backwards several yards. Fagerson is a talent but, by international standards, he is simply too small to use as a ball carrier. He also made the mistake under a high ball that led to the final US try so this was probably one Test to forget for the young breakaway.