Rugby World Cup

ELLAND ROAD, Leeds -- The USA are growing tired of being known simply for their physicality and must show the world they can play attractive rugby, according to lock Louis Stanfill.

The Eagles looked to have taken a leaf out of Japan's book of upsets when they led Scotland 13-6 at half-time in their Pool B clash at Elland Road, but the Europeans came out for the second 40 minutes a different team to run in five tries and breeze to a 39-16 victory.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Scotland head coach Vern Cotter admitted the USA's brutal pack unsettled his players in the opening stages, leading him to call in the cavalry in the front row at half-time.

Stanfill, however, insisted the USA are more than just a bunch of bruisers and that simply being tough in the tackle is no qualification for Test match rugby.

"Being physical should not be a part of the equation," he told ESPN. "This is international rugby, everyone's physical. If you're not physical, you're probably not at the World Cup.

"People still say that it's a reflection of our inability to come out and continue to show the world how technically proficient we are. That's up to us. We are a technically proficient team. That second half did not show it. The first half did."

One technical aspect of the game that appeared to confound the Americans in Leeds was the line-out, with hooker Phillip Thiel struggling to hit his men, often failing even to throw straight. Stanfill admitted it had been a bad day at the office in that set-piece, but insisted his teammates held their own in the scrum.

"I couldn't tell you what happened on the lineout today," he said. "It was an off day. It's certainly not a MO of ours. We pride ourselves on our lineout efficiency and technical ability. Today was just a hiccup.

"We've been continuing to work hard in the scrum. As you saw in the first half, today was a very good scrummaging day. We certainly gave the Scots all that they could handle and didn't budge on our own ball. We even went forward on some of theirs."

The USA now have 10 days to rest before facing a rejuvenated South Africa at London's Olympic Stadium. Victory for the Eagles there would match Japan's defeat of the Springboks last weekend for drama, although a more realistic target for them is a win over Japan on Sunday, October 11.

Rather than taking pride in their first-half performance, Stanfill revealed his teammates were angry in defeat and are targeting the clash with Japan as an opportunity to set the record straight.

"We're gutted, we are not happy with the way we played," he said. "This is not a good feeling for us. We very much feel like we let ourselves down. This is a tournament in which we know we can go out and show the world how far America's come in the last four years. Unfortunately we didn't take the opportunity by the horns.

"Absolutely we can beat Japan. We're going to regroup. We have 10 days off, I think the plan is to take a couple of days rest and a moment away from rugby. Then we'll come back fresher to attack this second half of the tournament."

Stanfill and his USA teammates were not be looking for any sympathy in defeat, but one Scotland try-scorer was adamant the Eagles had improved since the last time the two nations met - a 24-6 victory for the Dark Blues in Houston last year.

The margin of victory might have been wider at Elland Road, with Scotland winning by 23 points compared to 18, but wing Tim Visser admitted the USA's ability to put phases of play together had improved immensely.

"America pushed us in the first half here, which is something they didn't do last year when we were over there," he said. "It just shows there is a continuous development in world rugby as a whole.

"They couldn't put two phases together when we were over there, but today they were putting pressure on us time after time in the first half. They were putting large phases of play together, which meant that we had to keep defending. Then every time we turned the ball back over, we were back to defending. It's something we hadn't experienced against them in the past."