Flyhalf AJ MacGinty kicked 15 points as the USA shocked Scotland 30-29 in Houston on Saturday.
It was the Eagles’ first win against a tier-one nation in 94 years.
The home side, feeling confident after their 63-13 victory against Russia last week, made the victory all the more impressive as they fought back from an 11-point half-time deficit.
Scotland, ranked No 6 in the world, looked like they may have been in for a comfortable win when Stuart Hogg made a break to set up Blair Kinghorn for their first try after just three minutes.
MacGinty slotted his first penalty, before the visitors were awarded a penalty try after George Horne was high-tackled by Samu Manoa, who was subsequently sent to the sin bin.
McGinty kicked his second penalty, but Scotland got their third try as hooker George Turner went over in the corner, adding to a penalty from Kinghorn to take what looked like an unassailable 24-6 lead.
However, USA hooker Joe Taufete’e grabbed a brace either side of half-time to put his side within a whisker of victory.
MacGinty slotted another penalty before setting up Hanco Germishuys for a try as they took the lead for the first time.
Scotland then produced a late surge in an attempt to rescue the game and they looked like they had when Dougie Fife came off the bench to score an 80th-minute try, but Kinghorn missed his conversion to give the USA a well-earned win.
USA – Tries: Joe Taufete’e (2), Hanco Germishuys. Conversions: AJ MacGinty (3). Penalties: MacGinty (3).
Scotland – Tries: Blair Kinghorn, penalty try, George Turner, Dougie Fife. Conversions: Kinghorn (2). Penalty: Kinghorn.
USA – 15 Will Hooley, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 John Quill, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Landry, 21 Nate Augspurger, 22 Will Magie, 23 Dylan Audsley.
Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Luke Hamilton, 6 Tim Swinson, 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Lewis Carmichael, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 David Denton, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Mark Bennett, 23 Dougie Fife.
Photo: Levan Verdzeuli/Getty Images
