Six years ago in Houston, one of the brightest moments in American rugby history took place, but also one of the darkest in Scottish rugby history.

But when they met for the first time since the U.S. national rugby team’s historic win over Scotland on Friday, they pulled off their first win over a Tier 1 team in 94 years and there were no second American surprises in this matchup.

Ewan Ashman scored three first-half goals, Duhan van der Merwe equalled Scotland’s national record with his 27th try and a powerful Scotland squad thrashed the United States 42-7 in Washington DC on Friday night. Coach Gregor Townsend and his men have determinedly avoided a repeat of that infamous night in Texas in 2018.

Scotland (who began their mid-year tests with a 73-12 win over Canada in Ottawa last weekend) appeared to be big favourites to beat the Eagles in the American capital, but the visitors could never have been too sure ahead of the match after what happened the last time they played the USA on American soil.

Born in Canada, Ashman contributed to the team with a tremendous performance in the first 40 minutes of his Scotland jersey.

Van der Merwe opened the scoring in the sixth minute, giving Scotland an early lead. The stocky, quick winger equalled Stuart Hogg’s record for most goals for Scotland, despite playing an incredible 62 fewer games.

But Ashman’s burst gave Scotland a 28-7 lead at half-time, taking their first point after a rolling maul in the 19th minute, but scoring another five-pointer eight minutes later after the Eagles’ David Ainu’u was sent off and Scotland went one man up.

The United States escaped victory after Old Glory DC center Tommaso Boni put on a show for his fans at Audi Field, scoring in the 32nd minute off a pass from Seattle Seawolves center JP Smith. Smith wore the national team jersey for the second time in two weeks after making his senior debut against Romania last weekend.

But Ashman wasn’t finished yet. With all three of his tries coming in a similar fashion (a rolling maul from a line-out) Scotland stuck to the tried and true with the Edinburgh man completing his three-goal haul (and taking Scotland’s try tally to seven) by cancelling out Boni’s effort and giving Scotland an extra measure of relief.

The humid weather conditions in Washington often made the ball slippery and the flow of play occasionally erratic in the second half, but this did not pose a problem for the team ranked sixth in the world and they were not in danger of losing the match in the final 40 minutes.

Glasgow Warriors defender George Horne, who had won the United Rugby Championship with his club team, extended Scotland’s lead to 28 points with a goal 10 minutes into the second half, making his debut for Scotland on that fateful night in Houston and overcoming his own personal problems against the USA.

Horne’s Warriors teammate Matt Fagerson scored Scotland’s sixth goal with just a few minutes left in the game. Scotland’s powerful scrum advanced to the American goal line and Ross Thompson dominated the game, scoring after substitute Adam Hastings had scored two extra points for Scotland’s previous five goals.

Major League Rugby trio Conner Mooneyham (Seattle), Saia Uhila (Utah Warriors) and Ethan McVeigh (Old Glory) made their celebratory debuts for the Eagles on Friday night. But coach Scott Lawrence, who was waived the interim tag after managing the U.S. after their Rugby World Cup qualifiers in January, is looking for his first official win as the Eagles’ head coach after losing to Romania in their first match of 2024 last weekend in Chicago.

Scotland are halfway through their four-game tour of the United States and stand a strong chance of going through the tour unbeaten. They face Chile in Santiago next Saturday and Uruguay in Montevideo on July 27, before their end-of-year international against Fiji in November.

The Eagles, meanwhile, will have a little over a month off before taking on rivals Canada in the revamped World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup on August 31, playing their first match in Group B against their neighbours to the north at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

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