Prediction: Fiji v Scotland

THE last time Scotland beat Australia they blew all the hard work by losing to Argentina the very next week. You can be sure that Andy Robinson won’t want to make the same mistake again.

It’s almost impossible to predict this match without looking skywards.

The weather forecasters originally insisted that the skies would be blue and the sun would be shining hard and hot. Forty eight hours of rain later and the forecasters are a little less certian. Now, they say, it might just rain until Scotland leave Fiji.

A good, firm track gives the hosts what they want, a dry ball to throw around but oddly enough Scotland are desperate for the same. They have a brand new back division, a brand new attack coach and a brand new recruit in the giant Dutchman Tim Visser. Like a kid with a new toy, everyone wants to see them play.

Whatever the weather Scotland should have too much experience and savvy for a young and inexperienced Fijian team who are rebuilding after the disaster of the last World Cup.

In the wet I’d take Scotland to grind out an 18-6 type of win. In the dry I’d expect a cracking good game with the tourists finishing on the right side of a 28-14 sort of score.

Just one warning, I was dead certain the Wallabies would be too strong for Scotland.