Van der Merwe equals Scotland record in win over USA

USA (7) 7

Try: Boni Con: MacGinty

Scotland (28) 42

Try: Van der Merwe, Ashman (3), Horne, M Fagerson Con: Hastings (5), Thompson

Scotland made it two wins from two on their summer tour with a comfortable win over USA in Washington DC.

Duhan van der Merwe opened the scoring for Gregor Townsend's side with his 27th international try, equalling Stuart Hogg's record try-scoring tally for Scotland.

Hooker Ewan Ashman then took centre stage, scoring a first-half hat-trick at the back of a dominant Scottish maul, while Tommaso Boni capitalised on Matt Fagerson's error for the hosts' only try.

Further tries from George Horne and Matt Fagerson in the second half took Scotland past the 40-point mark and helped them build on last week's comprehensive win over Canada.

The Scots now head for South America, where they play two further Tests against Chile (20 July) and Uruguay (27 July).

Townsend made 15 changes to the side that crushed Canada last time out, recalling the more experienced members of his squad, as he looked to avoid a repeat of the 2018 loss to the US in Houston.

The opening six minutes saw Scotland stamp their authority on the contest, as they dominated both territory and possession before breaching the US defence.

Van der Merwe came off his wing, ran an excellent line and punched through a hole before coasting under the posts. It is now only a matter of time before he stands alone as Scotland's greatest ever try scorer.

From there, Scotland's pack took charge. Ewan Ashman dotted down twice after the visitors' maul marched unchecked over the try-line.

After David Ainu’u was sin-binned for the hosts, the one-way traffic seemed likely to continue, but AJ MacGinty pounced on Fagerson's handling error and Boni crashed over from close range to give the locals something to cheer.

Any home optimism was diminished soon after though. Another lineout in the American 22 saw Ashman break away for his third try and sent Scotland into half-time with a 21-point lead.

Substitutions on both sides disrupted the flow of the game in the second half, and Scotland struggled to make inroads as frequently as they did before the break, with a fair few players flagging in energy-sapping conditions.

Still, the impressive Kyle Rowe found space down the right-hand side before releasing Horne to score Scotland's fifth try under the posts, and another show of strength from the visiting pack saw Fagerson add a sixth in the closing stages.

USA: Carty, Mooneyham, Lopeti, Boni, Augspurger; MacGinty, Smith; Iscaro, Fawsitt, Ainu'u, Helu, Peterson (c), Golla, Ryan, Fa'anana-Schultz.

Replacements: Pifeleti, Turnbull, Mullen, Uhila, Bonasso, McVeigh, Campbell, Wilson.

Scotland: Rowe, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (cc), Van der Merwe, Hastings, Horne; Schoeman, Ashman, Walker, Cummings, Craig, Ritchie, Darge (cc), M Fagerson.

Replacements: Smith, Sutherland, Millar Mills, Williamson, Crosbie, Dobie, Thompson, Currie.

Referee: Jordan Way (Australia).