We have had a cracking Autumn Series of internationals which will end for Scotland against Australia at Murrayfield on Sunday. I have watched every one of the Autumn Series games and I think it’s been one of the most exciting non-tournaments I have ever seen.
Every squad has taken each match seriously, and the level of intensity has been off the charts, and you just have to look at the closeness of many of the scorelines to see why there have been a number of truly exciting matches with the results in doubt even as the clock turned red.
That was very much the case in the game which I consider to be the best in the series, Australia’s last-ditch victory over England at Twickenham the weekend before last. There are lessons to be learned from both sides in that epic encounter and I will sum them up thus – on Sunday against the Wallabies, Scotland must start the way England did and then ‘finish’, in every sense of the word, like Australia.
As should be expected from the home team, England charged into the attack from the off, and were well worth their two early tries scored by Chandler Cunningham-South, with a penalty by Marcus Smith given them a 15-3 lead after the first quarter. But Australia had shown flashes of their scoring threat even as they went behind, and unlike England, they were able to finish moves so well that by half-time they were 20-18 up.
In a game where both sides enjoyed spells of dominance, it looked as though England had prevailed when Maro Itoje scored his late try, only for Australia to come back and – an important point here – keep the ball alive and maintain their discipline in time added on, and didn’t the smile on Max Jorgensen’s face as he dived over for the winning score not speak volumes about Australia’s will to win?
Both Australia and Scotland enjoyed being on the right end of demolition jobs at the weekend but ours was against Portugal and the Wallabies did their pummelling against a supposed Tier One side, Wales.
Now even allowing for the fact that Wales were utterly dreadful and that Warren Gatland has lost the plot, Australia were exceptional and their performance in Cardiff was yet another demonstration of the range of playing talents that head coach Joe Schmidt has begun to gather round him. Remember that Schmidt has only been in the job since March and that until he arrived the Wallabies had been under-performing for years. And as for all that recent piffle about players being capped by ‘foreign’ countries, the fact that Schmidt hails from Oz’s great rivals New Zealand is rarely mentioned.
Instead Rugby Australia and the country’s coaches, players and fans have all got behind Schmidt whose record with Ireland gave him the authority to impose his way of playing on the squad, and boy, has he delivered the necessity that the Wallabies require before they host the British and Irish Lions next year and the men’s World Cup in 2027 – hope. Not that long ago Australia were hopeless, and that’s the main reason why, despite their revival under Schmidt, they are still rated two places behind Scotland in the World Rugby rankings.
That’s the main reason why I think Scotland can win at Murrayfield on Sunday, especially if we start ferociously.We performed well for a lot of the game against South Africa and while Portugal were not as good as they were in last year’s World Cup, we still managed to win by nine tries to three.
Gregor Townsend will also have a strong squad to choose from, but I hope he doesn’t experiment and goes with our top XV. Though I recognise the rapid rise of Tom Jordan as a full-back, I feel we have to start with our best back three and that is Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn at full-back. I expect Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu to be our centres and Ben White to join Finn Russell to fill the No 9 and No. 10 jerseys.
As always, the outcome will be determined up front, and with Scott Cummings back from suspension he must go straight into the team as he has the muscle and nous to deliver an inspirational performance. Whoever plays at hooker there must be no misfires at the lineout while the back row must be prepared for a titanic shift, especially as we will be missing the injured Jack Dempsey who would have loved to have faced his old country.
It will be a close match, but Scotland can win, even though Australia are a recovered side.
During the Autumn Series I have been refraining from comment on numerous issues such as the new President of World Rugby and the dire mess of the SRU’s finances, but next week’s column will appear on the day of the SRU AGM so you bet I will be looking to ask some serious questions about our governing body.
