Australia 6-9 Scotland: Scots weather storm then land knockout blow

HAD ANY novelist dared to submit this storyline his publisher would have had him thrown out of the back door by his ear.

After suffering seven straight defeats in all competitions, Scotland bounced back in the most emphatic manner with a victory over the second-best side in international rugby.

It is 30 years since Scotland last beat the Wallabies on home turf although this win in Newcastle, coming on the heels of that Murrayfield victory back in 2009, means that Robinson has a barely believable three from four success rate against the big three in the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, South Africa and Australia). It is starkly at odds with his two from 15 in the Six Nations.

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Ignore the fact that Australia were missing a few key personnel and chose to hand debuts to five youngsters. You can only beat what is in front of you and the Scots did exactly that while shorn of a few key personnel themselves.

The backrow trio of Al Strokosch, Ross Rennie and John Barclay tackled as if their lives depended upon it, as did big Richie Gray, and Ryan Grant made an impressive debut on the left side of the scrum. Anyone planning to shift him from the No.1 shirt will need to make a far better fist of it than his opposite number Dan Palmer did last night. The Glasgow man may have started the match against a rookie like himself but he finished it against the Wallabies’ first-choice tighthead Ben Alexander and still had the upper hand. The halfbacks tackled themselves to a standstill and Stuart Hogg dealt beautifully with the only high ball he was asked to catch all night.

Both sets of outside backs were more or less an irrelevance on the night as both teams inevitably focused on the arm wrestle between two well-matched forward packs. If there was a hiccup for Scotland it came at the sidelines were Ross Ford, heroic in every other respect, had four or five lineout throws go astray that were not helped by the conditions.

The howling gale and driving wind had a bigger effect on proceedings that any individual player but the Scots rediscovered their fighting spirit which was worryingly absent in their last outing in Rome when they lost 13-6 to Italy and that, above all else, was the most pleasing aspect of this game.

That the visitors won was thanks almost entirely to an immense defensive effort from a forward pack that had looked out-gunned before kick off.

With the elements at their backs for the first half, the Scots edged into a 6-3 lead at half time thanks to two penalties from Greig Laidlaw against one from Wallaby centre Mike Harris. The talk in the press box estimated the conditions were worth 15 points so the slender advantage didn’t look nearly enough and this view was only underlined when Harris levelled the scores at 6-6 just two minutes into the second half.

So far the match was going according to script but, just when everyone expected the Scots to fold in the face of the Wallaby onslaught, they found a self- belief and gritty determination that has been missing for much of the year despite the fact that they could barely get their noses beyond their own 22-metre line never mind into the Aussie half of the field.

Already facing the sort of wind and rain that caused hypothermia in several Australians, the Scots’ discomfort was multiplied by relentless waves of Wallaby attacks. The home team kicked one penalty into touch for a five-metre lineout when they perhaps should have gone for goal. Berrick Barnes kicked cross-field for winger Digby Ioane but Tom Brown, making his debut and on for the injured Sean Lamont, was alert to the danger. Wallaby replacement Rob Simmons barged his way over the try line one minute after coming onto the field only for the TMO to declare the evidence “inconclusive”. Barnes sliced a drop goal attempt and Harris fluffed a long-range penalty that never worried the posts.

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Andy Robinson has long bewailed the bounce of the ball but it went Scotland’s way last night, especially in an utterly compelling final few minutes.

Harris kicked long from inside his own half but the wind carried the ball dead and, with three minutes remaining on the clock and the scores tied at 6-6, the Scots had their best attacking opportunity of the second half; arguably the only one.

The Scottish forwards were going sideways until Greig Laidlaw found a half gap on the left and popped the ball inside, which carried the attack another few precious metres. A little later the Scots earned themselves the put in at a scrum 25 metres from the Wallaby line. The first Scots scrum edged forward, wheeled and collapsed. The Scots wanted a penalty but the referee ordered a reset. On the second scrum, long after the final hooter had sounded, they got their chance when loosehead James Slipper dropped Euan Murray to the floor and this time the referee’s arm went up. Laidlaw still had to do the needful into the teeth of a wind that had dropped from hurricane to gale force but the little flyhalf made no mistake.

That was the cue for the celebrations even if the historic double over Australia was tinged with comic-tragedy when Joe Ansbro suffered a cut over his eye clashing heads with Al Strokosch during the frantic aftermath. He will consider a few stitches a small price to pay for being involved in such a memorable match.

Scorers: Australia: Pens: Harris 2. Scotland: Scotland: Pens: Laidlaw 3.

Australia: Morahan, Tomane, A. Faingaa, Harris, Ioane, Barnes, Genia, Slipper, Moore, Palmer, Timani, Sharpe, Dennis, Pocock, Higginbotham. Subs: Alexander for Palmer (70), Simmons for Timani (55), Hooper for Dennis (65). Not Used: S. Faingaa, Phipps, McCabe, Ashley-Cooper.

Scotland: Hogg, Ansbro, De Luca, Scott, Lamont, Laidlaw, Blair, Grant, Ford, Murray, Kellock, Gray, Strokosch, Rennie, Barclay. Subs: Brown for Lamont (39), Cusiter for Blair (64). Not Used: Lawson, Welsh, Ryder, Vernon, Weir.