HOUSTON (AP) Tim Visser scored a try in the 14th minute, and Scotland added a penalty try later in the first half in a 24-6 victory over the United States on Saturday night at BBVA Stadium.
Scotland's Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half.
''The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against,'' Laidlaw said. ''That was very important. We are happy to get the win. We left a couple tries out there. We did our talking on the field, and we are pleased to get off to a good start on the tour.''
Chris Wyles connected on two of three penalty kicks for the Americans.
''I think the game tonight never really picked up momentum, certainly not from our side, but I mean in general, there were many stop-starts there,'' U.S. coach Mike Tolkin said. ''We needed to add more urgency to it. The first half we were too aggressive where we shouldn't have been and got stupid penalties. Early on we weren't aggressive where we needed to be. Overall, we didn't do a good job of holding on to the ball.''
Scotland controlled the possession and kept the U.S. away from the try-zone for most of the match
The match was the first for Vern Cotter as Scotland's coach.
Cotter was pleased to see his team score several tries without giving up any.
''We are happy to get a win in difficult conditions,'' Cotter said in reference to the temperatures in the 80s. ''I thought we showed good structure in the first part of the first half and gave ourselves a few opportunities to score a couple of tries. Our scrum got the better of their scrum, which gave us an area to get a good grip of the game and gave us points as well. I was pleased to see the opportunities we created.''
Visser put Scotland ahead 10-3 in the 14th minute, breaking free and scoring a try before Laidlaw's conversion.
After Visser dropped the ball twice close to the try-zone, Scotland was finally able to get in, scoring on a penalty try in the 32nd minute, and Laidlaw added the conversion to up Scotland's advantage to 17-3.
After Laidlaw missed a penalty kick off the upright in the fourth minute, he connected on a penalty kick from inside the 22 meter line to give Scotland a 3-0 lead in the sixth minute.
Wyles tied it at 3 with a penalty kick in the 11th minute, and he cut Scotland's lead to 17-6 with a penalty kick from outside the 22-meter line in the 51st minute, but that would be as close as the Eagles would get.
''It was tough,'' U.S. captain Todd Clever said. ''When we tried to put some things together in their territory, it just wasn't there.''
Scotland upped the lead to 24-6 in the 66th minute with Hogg breaking free along the left sideline and scoring a try and Laidlaw added the conversion.
Clever had the Eagles' best chance at scoring a try in the 34th minute, touching the line, but after being reviewed, Clever was ruled to have done a double move, and the try was negated.
