An unchanged USA side meets a new look Scotland side in the Pool B match at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Previous meetings
Scotland and the USA have officially met twice before with the Scots victorious on both occasions. Their first meeting was in 2000 at Murrayfield with the home team recording a 53-6 victory. Last year in June the sides played in the USA with Scotland winning 65-23.
Form guide
Scotland will see this game as incredibly important after they secured maximum points against Japan in their opening game in the 32-11 victory. The USA on the other hand will feel unlucky that they could not come away with more from their close 19-18 lose to Fiji.
Scotland are currently ranked 10th in the official IRB World Rankings with the USA taking the 14th spot.
Ins and outs
Eagles coach Tom Billups has made no changes to the side which came so close against Fiji. However his Scottish counterpart Ian McGeechan has made nine changes to the side which ran out in Townsville.
The new captain will be hooker Gordon Bulloch who wins his 55th cap. Another player making his first start in the tournament is legendary fly half Gregor Townsend.
Key Players
The Eagles will again look for inspiration from number 8 Dan Lyle. Lyle will be familiar to the Scottish team due to his presence in the Zurich premiership for the Leicester Tigers, and will again command respect from his opponents.
Few players can claim to have as big a stature in Scottish rugby as Gregor Townsend. The fly half, who has scored 157 test points, will be remembered by the USA as 33 of them came against the Eagles in Murrayfield.
What it means
Scotland will be looking to maintain their pressure on Pool favourites France with a win and possible bonus point.
After coming so close to reaching their goal of a RWC victory against Fiji, the USA will be out to secure that elusive victory against the Scots.
What they said
Scotland coach Ian McGeechan on his opponents. “They are well organised team, physically big and with a lot of experience. When you look at the USA’s results building up to the competition – they beat Canada I think three times and had a comfortable win against Japan – then their performance against Fiji earlier this week did not surprise me.”
The USA’s Kort Schubert on the team building from their result against Fiji. “Yes, we did a lot of good things against Fiji. We will be looking to build on these areas as well as to identify and improve upon our mistakes. The Scots will be a much improved team from their last outing and the match will demand a more precise and determined effort from us in order to be successful."
On whether the USA will be successful.
”First of all, I think the Scots will be a much better team than what was displayed against Japan. However, if we can achieve the same defensive effort seen against Fiji while maintaining more possession and minimizing turnovers, we will be successful against the Scots.”
Play on
Contrary to recent reports, Rugby World Cup has not banned the playing of bagpipes. As with the singing of songs such as Waltzing Matilda, these can be played at any time during the match.
Match details
Scotland v USA
19:30
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan