Pool B Report : Ian McGeechan will be faced with some tough decisions when he selects the Scotland side to play France on Saturday after Simon Danielli took his chance with both hands here yesterday.
The Bath winger Danielli scored twice to put pressure on Kenny Logan for a place in the starting line-up for the potential Pool B decider in Sydney.
Logan will retire from the international scene after the World Cup but could find himself waving goodbye from the bench. He came on late against the United States but, barring two good runs, had little time to impress.
McGeechan could play Chris Paterson at outhalf and make room for Logan and Danielli. But Gregor Townsend's display of kicking from hand could see him retain his place at the expense of Gordon Ross at outhalf.
Danielli's first try put the Scots in front after two penalties from Mike Hercus had given the US an early 6-3 lead. Danielli carved his way through the defence from 40 metres out. If his first try had a touch of the rapier about it, his second owed more to the broadsword as he carried two US players over the line with him. Speed and brute force are ideal attributes for a winger and Danielli used both to full effect.
"It is nice to have wingers with pace and strength," McGeechan said. "He used his pace for the first try and his strength for the second. It's not a bad combination to be able to call on."
Scotland kept the momentum going when their prop Gavin Kerr beat the American winger Riaan van Zyl to the ball after charging down Paul Emerick's kick. But the shine was taken off the victory when the Scotland flanker Jon Petrie went off with a shoulder injury in the second half; he will have a scan today.
On the debit side Scotland made too many handling errors and got on the wrong side of the referee Jonathan Kaplan, who lectured the acting captain Gordon Bulloch about perceived Scottish offences at the breakdown and sent Tom Smith to the sin-bin before half-time.
Kaplan also appeared to deny Scotland a good chance of scoring when he chose to stop them taking a quick tap penalty so he could yellow card the American full-back Emerick in the second half.
The Scots lost their way for a time and Hercus's boot got the Americans back within range until tries from Townsend and Paterson saw them home with a bonus point. After two decent workouts against the perceived smaller nations, the real test awaits in Sydney.
SCOTLAND: G Metcalfe; S Danielli, A Craig, A Henderson, C Paterson; G Townsend, M Blair; T Smith, G Bulloch (capt), G Kerr, N Hines, S Grimes, R Beattie, J Petrie, S Taylor. Replacements: B Douglas for Beattie (43-51 mins); M Leslie for Petrie (53 mins); J White for Beattie (66 mins); B Redpath for Blair (60 mins); B Hinshelwood for Craig (72 mins); B Douglas for Smith (73 mins); K Logan for Townsend (77 mins).
UNITED STATES: P Emerick; D Fee, P Eloff, K Cross, R Van Zyl; M Hercus, K Dalzell; M MacDonald, K Khasigian, D Dorsey, A Parker, L Gross, K Schubert, D Hodges (capt),, D Lyle. Replacements: J Gouws for Hodges (30-38 mins); O Fifita for Hodges (69 mins), J Keyter for Cross (43 mins); Gouws for Parker (54 mins); K Kjar for Dalzell (66 mins); R Liddington for Dorsey (66 mins); L Wilfley for van Zyl (80 mins).
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).
