'Wounded' Scotland looking to bounce back against Australia who also have point to prove

Two sides with a point to prove will go head-to-head at Murrayfield on Sunday when Scotland host Australia in their next Nations Championship Test.

Gregor Townsend’s team were comfortably beaten 43-21 by the All Blacks last Saturday with the visitors running away on the scoreboard in the second half. Things were just as bad for the Wallabies who were dismantled 45-22 by England at Twickenham in their last outing.

Many had expected more from the 2027 Rugby World Cup host nation who just six weeks prior had beaten the number one ranked Springboks 42-28. That result against South Africa aside, the expectation in the Scotland camp is that the Aussies will travel to Edinburgh looking to restore their pride after a bruising afternoon in London.

“Both teams will be looking to bounce back” - Scotland winger believes Australia have a point to prove after England defeat

Winger Kyle Steyn believes that both teams find themselves in the same boat, hoping to ‘bounce back’ from their respective disappointments the weekend prior. It means that they are wary of the threat posed by the ‘wounded’ visitors but are also eager to make a statement themselves.

“We're really excited about the challenge and opportunity,” the Glasgow Warriors skipper said. “You've got two teams that are wounded that are both looking to bounce back.

“I think that makes the weekend really exciting. The match-up of styles should hopefully be a really exciting game, you've seen the attack that they've had over the summer in the Rugby Championship.

“If you let them get going, they've got a really potent attack. For us it'll be focusing on what we can do because we did show in patches that the systems we've got work really well. We just need to put it out there more consistently and be tougher in those longer periods.

“I think both teams will be looking to bounce back. In both teams, one of the biggest ways we both do that is with ball in hand and we both want to fire shots.

“I'm pretty sure they said post-game that that's what they're looking to do coming up here this week. We just see that as a really exciting opportunity for us defensively.

“We're in front of a packed-out Murrayfield that really got behind us, especially in that first half last week. We want to put out a performance that ignites that crowd again this week.”

Last Saturday’s result means that challenging for the inaugural Nations Championship trophy is likely out of reach for the Scots. However, they are still aiming to finish as high up the Northern Hemisphere table as possible in order to give themselves the toughest challenge going into Finals Weekend.

“It’s huge,” said Steyn. “Especially coming off the summer in South Africa and then coming into the New Zealand game, we really just want to test ourselves against the best teams as often as we can.

“Everyone knows how important the next 12 months are with the Rugby World Cup at the end of it. I think everyone will be looking to stress test themselves, put themselves in the deep end as much as we can.

“We definitely want to do that. Having something to play for and putting yourself in a higher table clash is definitely something we're looking towards but we can't look further than this weekend. We know we've got a fired up Wallabies teams coming here but at the same time, we're looking to bounce back too.”

Get our rugby newsletter by clicking here