You can be forgiven for writing the USA off when they were down 21-6 just before half-time against Scotland. Margins of that size between tier one and tier two nations are not usually reversed.

Joe Taufete's brace of tries, a further score for Hanco Germishuys and nine points from the fly-half AJ Macginty flipped the game on its head to leave the USA ahead by six points with time almost up. Scotland rallied, Dougie Fife crossing in the corner to leave Blair Kinghorn, winning only his fourth cap, with a touchline conversion to win the Test.

"What was so encouraging to see was the build-up of the work from the players in the week and what we set out as coaches, that if we were accurate in certain areas we would give ourselves a chance," explains USA head coach Gary Gold.

"The calmness of the leadership group of the players at half-time... knowing we were 21-6 down but seeing what we did wrong and that if we cut out those mistakes we could still stick to our processes. We scored ten points in the first seven minutes of that second half, closing the gap quickly brought the confidence back again."

Kinghorn's effort fell wide and the USA partied like it was 1924... given that was the last time the USA had defeated a 'tier one' side, beating France 17-3 in Colombes.