Australia came into the game with high hopes, they were favourites and having beaten World Champions South Africa twice this year, they had every right to be.
It was a slow first 20 minutes before Scotland’s Hamish Watson lunged in from a driving maul to put the first points on the board. Finn Russell made it 7 as he added the extras.
Another quiet 20 minutes went by before Australia were given a penalty in the Scottish half which James O’Connor converted for their 3 first points of the game.
The big talking point of the first half, however, was the controversy surrounding Australia’s number 3 Allan Alaalatoa for his questionable clear-out of Matt Fagerson at a ruck which resulted in a try being overturned and a yellow card for the Aussie.
Scotland’s first try also wasn’t without controversy as many claim that there was obstruction during the maul, however, the Television Match Official deemed it legal and the try stood.
Second Half
Australia started the second half as well as they ended the first with constant pressure in the Scottish 22 meant that Blindside Flanker Rob Leota was able to cross for an easy try and conversion by O’Connor to put the Southern Hemisphere side in front for the first time in the match.
Scotland’s debutant off the bench Ewan Ashman had a moment of glory in the 59th minute with an acrobatic lunge for the line to put the Scots back into the lead, however, Russell was unable to add the extras meaning we were in for a tight last 20 minutes at 12-10.
5 Minutes later, another James O’Connor penalty put Australia back into the lead before Russell had a penalty of his own just 3 minutes later.
Scotland were able to hang on with a driving maul in midfield helped the clock tick down before George Horne booted the ball into touch as Romain Poite blew the final whistle.
On the day Scotland were the far superior side. Their scrum was dominant and nearly won a penalty each time they packed down as their set pieces functioned well all around the field.
They made more clean breaks by playing better attacking rugby with more runs, more passes and lots of offloads to keep the game flowing which resulted in more meters made on the day.
Australia’s defending let them down as did their discipline with their 14 penalties conceded and a yellow card which could have resulted in a red card on a different day.
Players of the Match
Official man of the match Hamish Watson was by far the best player on the field on Sunday as he was a nuisance at every defensive ruck. The stats also back up his incredible performance with 1 try, 1 defender beaten, 11 tackles made with 0 missed tackles to cap off an all round impressive display.
Fullback Stuart Hogg was also instrumental for Scotland as he swept up well at the back, securing every high ball that Australia threw at him. His attacking potency was also on show as he was always a danger to the Australian defensive line whenever he was given an inch of space. He beat 3 defenders, made 1 clean break and made 61 meters from 9 runs.
Australia’s best player on the day was Fly-Half James O’Connor. He kicked a conversion and 2 penalties along with some impressive defensive figures making 6 tackles without missing a single one. He also made 31 meters by beating 1 defender and having 1 clean break to his name.
