Scotland host the USA in the November international rugby series at Murrayfield on Saturday and the bookmakers main handicap line suggests the hosts should win by a wide margin.
Scotland v USA, Saturday 1st November, Murrayfield, Edinburgh, KO 19:40 (South African time)
Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Assistant Referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR), Katsuki Furuse (JRFU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)
Weather Forecast - Edinburgh
Scotland:
Scotland’s mid year program saw them win at the Maori All Blacks (29-26), they lost in Fiji (29-14) and then beat Samoa (41-12).
Earlier this year Scotland finished down the field in the Six Nations with 2 wins and 3 defeats. They started with a 31-19 home win over Italy before defeats at home to Ireland (32-18) and away to England (16-15). Their second win came at home to Wales (35-29) and they finished that tournament with a 35-16 loss in France.
In the November international series of 2024 Scotland beat Fiji (57-17), Portugal (59-21) and Australia (27-13) but they lost to South Africa (32-15).
After this the Scots will host New Zealand, Argentina and finally Tonga.
USA:
In August and September USA were in Pacific Nations Cup action. They lost to Canada (34-20) and Japan (47-21) before a 29-13 win against Samoa in Denver earned them qualification for the 2027 RWC.
In July they beat Belgium (36-17) but then lost to Spain (31-20) before they were thumped (40-5) by England in Washington
After this USA will visit Georgia and Romania
Recent Head to Head
JUL 2024 INT Washington USA 7-42 Scotland
Team News
Scotland: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Ollie Smith, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Marshall Sykes, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Patrick Harrison, 1 Rory Sutherland.
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Max Williamson, 21 Magnus Bradbury, 22 George Horne, 23 Ross Thompson
USA: 15 Erich Storti, 14 Mitch Wilson, 13 Dominic Besag, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Toby Fricker, 10 Chris Hilsenbeck, 9 Ruben de Haas, 8 Paddy Ryan, 7 Cory Daniel, 6 Viliami Helu, 5 Jason Damm (captain), 4 Marno Redelinghuys, 3 Pono Davis, 2 Kaleb Geiger, 1 Ezekiel Lindenmuth
Replacements: 16 Sean McNulty, 17 Payton Telea-Ilaio, 18 Maliu Niuafe, 19 Tevita Naqali, 20 Makeen Alikahn, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Tavite Lopeti, 23 Luke Carty
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
Scotland -42.5 points at 9/10
USA +42.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this week’s internationals will be posted on this blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.