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Australia now wary of Scotland threat after Scots proved they can take down Wallabies

Scotland playing Australia in Sydney this summer - Corbis Sport
Scotland playing Australia in Sydney this summer - Corbis Sport

It is the most unlikely of rugby rivalries. After losing 16 times in a row to Australia between 1982 and 2009, Scotland have now won three of the past six games between the two nations. After Scotland suffered some heroic thrashings in those 27 years – not one match was remotely close and two, a 45-3 victory in Sydney in 1998 and a 44-15 shellacking at Murrayfield in 2006, were routs – the most recent six matches have been nip and tuck, with three being won by a single point and none by more than six points.

In truth, the first two of Scotland’s wins were a little misleading. The 9-8 victory at Murrayfield in 2009 featured a litany of missed penalties by Matt Giteau which ended up with the Wallaby missing a simple conversion to lose a game the Aussies should have won by a mile. Scotland’s first ever win in Australia in 2012 was in midweek in the Queensland rugby outpost of Newcastle against a second-string Wallaby side in torrential rain and ankle-deep mud, with the battered tourists only getting out of their half once after the break, which was when Greig Laidlaw kicked the winning penalty. 

The tectonic plates began to shift, however, when an unexpectedly competitive Scotland side lost 21-15 to Israel Folau-inspired Australia at Murrayfield in 2013. That rivalry really began in earnest at the 2015 World Cup when South African referee Craig Joubert denied Scotland a place in the semi-final by awarding a last-kick penalty to Australia, Bernard Foley kicking it for a 35-34 win. So aggrieved were the Scots – captain Greig Laidlaw said that “the dressing room was a dire place to be, there were boys in tears and there was a real anger that we’d lost” – that a year later the Scots bristled with intent, only to lose by a single point when Foley converted Tevita Kurdrani’s 75th-minute penalty. This summer, Scotland finally got the better of the Wallabies, winning 24-19 in Sydney in a loss that Wallaby skipper Michael Hooper said “really stung”.

Scotland's Jonny Gray (left) celebrates beating Australia - Credit: AFP
Scotland's Jonny Gray (left) celebrates beating Australia Credit: AFP

A gentle rivalry that was created by three close results, and which exploded into life at Twickenham, has now been given fuel by two desperately close games. But as Hooper said, the most remarkable feature of recent games between the two sides has been how similar they are in intent and execution since Scotland began to play with Wallaby-style width under Vern Cotter.

“There are a lot of similarities in these two teams, not least the way they fight to the end,” said Hooper. “They’ve got ticker and so have we. They showed that against the ABs and that match in Sydney was a real slugfest, with hits all over the place and penalties; what an enjoyable game to be involved in. Scotland are a real grind and we know the crowd will be getting involved, which is fantastic.”

Wallaby coach Mick “The Kick” Byrne, who was once a part of the Scotland coaching staff, believes Scotland coach Gregor Townsend is building on the foundations laid by Cotter and is now trying to out-Australia the Wallabies. Townsend was always a swashbuckling player, but Byrne believes his two stints with Warringah as a player have had a profound effect on the way he coaches and on the way Scotland play.

Gregor Townsend has an attacking style - Credit: REUTERS
Gregor Townsend has an attacking style Credit: REUTERS

“The reasons the games are close is because both teams are trying to play rugby,” said Byrne. “I coached Gregor so I know how he is. Under him Scotland play good rugby and they’re not going to die wondering, which is how Gregor played and what’s bringing him success as a coach. We’re expecting them to come out and play a lot of rugby against us and we’ll have to bear the brunt of their disappointment at losing in the last seconds to the All Blacks and we’re ready for that. They’re a great team and have been playing well for a couple of years.

“One of the big things that has changed is that the Scottish players’ belief in themselves has improved dramatically and under the coaching of Vern and now Gregor they’ve continued that belief within themselves. It’s not about what the opposition bring, it’s about them starting to really understand who they are, what they are and how they can play the game.”

Autumn Internationals 2017 | Fixtures, dates and kick-off times
Autumn Internationals 2017 | Fixtures, dates and kick-off times

Scotland captain John Barclay, who has won three of the four Tests he has played against Australia, agrees with Byrne that Saturday’s game – the third between these two sides in a year – is likely to be a re-run of the last three. “You know it is going to be a tight game because games against Australia are very physical, very fast, and for the last couple I’ve been involved in, we have been closely matched,” said Barclay. 

“The games have just been extremely close, probably the closest games going back. The game in the summer was awesome to play in, a really energetic, fast, physical game. It was very similar to the game in the autumn, almost as if the game in the autumn had just been four halves, we’d gone on and just started again really. I don’t know why, we just seem to create these types of games at the moment.”

After six stirring contests between these two sides, one can only hope that Barclay’s prediction of another classic is on the money.