Scotland were tightly defeated by Australia at BT Murrayfield in their first game of the Autumn Nations Series.
Last Saturday, Scotland’s Men’s National Rugby Team was back in front of the Murrayfield crowd for its first Autumn test match against Australia. After an underwhelming fourth place in the Six Nations, Gregor Townsend’s men wanted to produce a better showing against an opponent they had beaten in their last three meetings.
After another vibrant rendition of Flower of Scotland, Scottish stand-off Blair Kinghorn kicked the game off in front of over 65,000 people. While the Wallabies produced the first highlights of the match revolving around active scrum half, Tate McDermott, Scotland opened the score on their first attack with a try from full-back Ollie Smith in the twelfth minute. Kinghorn missed the conversion, and five minutes later Bernard Foley was on target from a penalty. Scotland defended valiantly for the rest of the first half but another penalty on the cusp of half time saw the visitors take a narrow lead into the break.
After the break, Scotland came out rather more dynamic. Townsend’s men retook the lead after three minutes thanks to a try scored and converted by Kinghorn following a turnover. Dave Rennie’s Wallabies were under big pressure and Kinghorn extended Scotland’s lead to 15-6 in the 54th minute, following several Aussie faults defending their try line.
In the press conference, Townsend admitted that the 56th minute yellow card against substitute second-row, Glen Young, was the turning point. James Slipper scored his third try for Australia within ten minutes to bring the score to 15-13, following another Foley conversion. Australia eventually took the narrowest of leads with ten minutes to the final whistle thanks to the third penalty goal of the day.
In the last minutes, Scotland had no choice but to go all in, buoyed by the crowd. An Australian delivery knock-on allowed them back to the middle of the pitch, even obtaining a final penalty in the last minute. Near 40m from the goalposts, Kinghorn missed a tricky chance. Foley’s clearance outside the field lines ended a frustrating game that Scotland could have won, according to captain Jamie Ritchie.
After three consecutive defeats against Scotland, Australia have reclaimed the Hopetoun Cup. In the press conference, Dave Rennie, Head Coach for Australia, praised the character of his group and expressed his optimism going into the following games after this initial victory against a young and competitive Scottish squad.
In spite of this narrow defeat, Townsend was proud of his team, taking hope from how close to a win they would have been if it weren’t for Kinghorn failing to land the final chance.
Scotland’s next match in the Autumn Nations Series will be against Fiji on November 5 at BT Murrayfield Stadium, in which they’ll be hoping for a better result.
Image ‘Scotland v Australia’ by Victor Gautier is used with the author’s permission.