(Carl Fourie photo)

The USA has been bounced out of contention, but not before posting a solid win against Scotland in the Bowl rounds at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens Saturday in George.

The American team made up somewhat for Friday’s strikeouts by downing the Scots 21-10 in the Bowl quarterfinals.

Things got off to a less than peachy start for the US when they found themselves trailing Scotland 5-0 at halftime in their quarterfinal showdown.

However, Nese Malifa sparked a purple patch for the USA when he scored a try and converted it within 90 seconds of the resumption of play.

That was quickly followed by a Nick Edwards try, again converted by Malifa, to extend the American lead to 14-5.

The US put the final nail in the Scottish coffin when substitute Peter Sio scored, converted by Malifa.

Scotland got a late consolation score, but by then the US had closed out its first win of the tournament.

The result set up a rematch with Russia in the Bowl semifinals.

Russia, which had edged the US in Dubai, took an early 12-0 lead behind a couple of first half tries.

The USA replied late in the half when Edwards, who has had a whirlwind start to his international Sevens career, scored an unconverted try as the half was about to expire to narrow the gap to 12-5.

However, it was an all-Russia second frame as the European champions went on to notch two more tries while keeping their tryline intact for a 24-5 win.

The loss saw the US finish with a 1-4 record and end their run in George.