Scotland built their momentum in the Rugby Universe throughout international matches this weekend, as they not only layeth los smacketh down upon the Springboks’ asses (yes it was 21-17 but until there was a late game try by the South Africans the Scots were able to gram and hold a comfortable lead), but the Scotland “A” squad (essentially their “B” team for the non-rugby readers of the SuperSite) knocked down the visiting USA Eagles men’s national team to the tune of 25-0.

The game was close going into the half, as the U.S. was only down 11-0 at half time, thanks to two David Blair penalty kicks and a try resulting from a one-man advantage when Eagle prop Mate Moeakiola was yellow carded off of the pitch in the 16^th minute for repeated scrum infractions. (also known as “WTF are you doing??” to the non-rugby readers)

Eagles Head Coach Eddie O’Sullivan said, “We started well, but turned over a lot of ball and we got behind 6-0 early.  Our scrum was under a lot of pressure and they scored a try with a man down. We still had a shot at 11-0.”

Penalties were the name of the game for the Eagles throughout the game, with the visiting Americans down two men at one point in the second half. Scotland’s tries in this match all came when the USA Eagles had players sitting in the yellow card “Time Out” bin.  According to the rose-colored glasses coming from USA Rugby this was a testament to the Eagles’ defense, which according to the release “is still very strong.”  But more importantly, this is also a testament to a lack of discipline on the field – that equates to 19 points given up when the Eagles were playing short-handed.

The conventional wisdom after a game like this is to state that there is usually more to learn in a loss than in a win.  If that’s true, then the Eagles coaching staff are hoping to take the many lessons from this game and add them to the team’s training program before Nov. 27, when the Eagles face off with Georgia in Tbilisi to wrap up their fall tour.