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Last Updated: Monday, 20 October, 2003, 14:36 GMT 15:36 UK
Billups down in the dumps
Mike Hercus scored all his team's points
Mike Hercus scored all his team's points with five penalties
USA coach Tom Billups has conceded his team played poorly against Scotland.

The Eagles went down 39-15 in Brisbane and the overwhelming feeling in the camp was one of disappointment.

"We didn't perform," Billups said. "We played poorly and lost."

The Eagles, who had run Fiji close in their opening game, were unable to unlock the Scottish defence.

All their points came from the boot of fly-half Mike Hercus who landed five penalties. At the other end of the pitch they let in five tries.

"Even in the best of sporting circles when a lot of coaches see a team play poorly and win they do not find it very satisfactory.

"But to lose and play badly like we did is infinitely worse - we are down on the kerb.

"We missed a lot of tackles but at certain points you start to see the difference between full and part-team players.

"I'm proud of our guys even in the light of a lot of fundamental errors because I know what they have had to go through just to be here.

"We were well prepared technically for the Scottish style of rugby we would face, but fair credit to their players to still be able to execute that."

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