Quibbles over refereeing aside, that was a heartening win for Scotland and a deserved one too. Congratulations to the boys in blue. Thanks for reading and emailing today and see you soon for more Autumn International Series action ... Bye for now.
Michael Aylwin’s take on that yellow card for Alaalatoa:
“Australia thought they had equalised, when Michael Hooper scrambled over between the posts, but the preceding clear-out by Allan Alaalatoa fell foul of that dilemma of the modern player - what to do with the arms. Alaalatoa’s brushed the cheek of Matt Fagerson, the Scotland tackler, and Alaalatoa was sent to the sin bin. Try rescinded.”
Michael Aylwin is on the scene for us at Murrayfield, and here is his match report:
Norman Perry sends an email entitled ‘Hooper’s disallowed try’:
“Outrageous to give a yellow card. Not even a penalty for me. If no penalty, then perfectly valid try.
“What game is being played these days? Not Rugby Union as I knew it. Might as well play touch rugby. I know that we have to look after players’ welfare, but this is supposed to be a contact sport.”
I have a lot of sympathy with this view, I must say. The contact with Fagerson’s head was negligible. And I’m not sure it was a ‘swinging arm’ so much as a genuine attempt to clear out the ruck. I think Australia can count themselves unlucky with the decision, which of course was a double whammy in a tight game, with the yellow card and the disallowed try.
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Celebrate good times, come on!
Enjoy that one, team?
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 7, 2021
🙌😁 pic.twitter.com/tvxGYLuoIK
Romain Poite is awarded the match ball following the conclusion of his last Test match as a referee. He’s had a good innings. Did he get every call right? Maybe not, but it’s not the easiest game to referee, is it. Well played.
The Scotland captain Hogg speaks: “It’s brilliant ... we’ve worked incredibly hard over the last little while to put ourselves in the position to win Test matches .. we’ve been waiting over 600 days for this [a crowd at Murrayfield] and it was worth it.
“For me there’s no better feeling than winning here. It’s the best feeling you can get ... but the job’s only half done [in the Autumn Series] - we are two games in, and two wins ... it’s going to be a massive challenge for us next week [against South Africa].
“We back the boys up front. Look, we back the boys, they gave us another great platform [to attack and to win].”
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As they replay Ashman’s try, it’s notable that a massive, muscular carry by a winger – Duhan van der Merwe – created the necessary space and the momentum for a hooker, Ashman, to nip over in the corner. It’s hard to describe what a good finish that was, he leapt for the line and somehow managed to dot down, under massive pressure, while being forced into touch.
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Gregor Townsend, who has never been beaten by Australia as Scotland head coach, has a chat: “I can’t hear a lot, but that’s because of the amazing atmosphere ... in the coaching box, we were getting a bit emotional at the end, it’s been a while since we had the supporters here ... it wasn’t the best of games, but the resolve, and the impact the bench made, was tremendous. We’ve not had this atmosphere for a year and a half ... and we respect those opposition hugely, and it was such a tight game ... it means so much to us as a group.
“I think we knew at half-time we weren’t as accurate as we know we can be ... but there was a fire about us in the second half which was great to see ... we grew more as we spent more time on the field together ... we’ll be better for this experience, it’s the first time this team has played together since March: It’s a huge challenge [against South Africa next week], they were very good yesterday, we’ll have to be very strong up front, but we believe there is more to come from this team.”
The player of the match Hamish Watson, who looks absolutely thrilled and cannot stop smiling, has a chat with Amazon Prime: “To have 67,000 back at Murrayfield, it’s absolutely amazing, we’ve been waiting a long time for this ... what a really special day, thank you to everyone in the stadium, it was amazing, thank you.
“We had to dig really deep for that one, Australia are a class team, they’ve won five on the bounce I think, and they’ve beaten some top teams ... the boys dug in and showed a lot of character ... it’s something special we are building here.
“We’ve got a tough game again next week [against South Africa], with a fast turnaround... it was a very nervy last 10 minutes sitting on the bench ... it was amazing, thanks again.”
Full-time! Scotland 15-13 Australia
They’ve done it! A nervous wait for the whistle, and a frenetic, error-strewn match overall, but Scotland got over the line. You must say that the right team won, but at the same time, Australia showed enough that you would not have begrudged them a narrow victory of their own. It was a stunning finish by Ashman, the debutant hooker, that proved so important for Townsend’s men. Australia were under-strength but they displayed all the spirit and ability that Dave Rennie has instilled in them in recent months.
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80 min: Scotland have the ball, and have the lead, and they choose to kick for the corner. They duly win their lineout ball, and form a maul to eat up a few seconds.
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77 min: Australia fluff their possession – first with a horrible pass from a forward that McDermott does well to tidy up and keep the attack going. Then the ball is turned over and Scotland roar down to the other end with a scintillating counterattack. Hogg, in particular, produces a lovely piece of skill and then it’s with Horne, who chooses to keep the ball when it looks like the right option was to offload to the inside with a couple of teammates waiting. Russell then tries a crossfield kick but it’s too long ... and moments later Beale misses touch at a key moment with his own kick. This is breathless stuff. Scotland lead by two.
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75 min: Stuart Hogg has never been involved in a win against Australia. He’ll be gutted, particularly, if this one slips away, but Scotland are holding steady for now. And as I say that, their scrum is destroyed by Australia, and the Wallabies win a penalty. Australia have more than five minutes to play with. They kick the penalty for touch, and will have a bash at winning this ...
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74 min: Don E isn’t happy: “How many times can a Wallabies supporter say ‘Fuck’ during a game?” he asks on email.
73 min: Beale tries to smash through the Australian line, but is gang-tackled and coughs up a turnover.
72 min: Jamie Hodgson, Jamie Bhatti, Oli Kebble, Josh Bayliss and George Horne are all on for Scotland now and Townsend empties his bench and tries to find some freshness to make the difference in the final few minutes.
71 min: Squeaky bum time now. One mistake - or one piece of brilliance - wins this match.
Penalty! 69 min: Scotland 15-13 Australia (Russell)
Scotland win a scrum penalty in their opponents’ half. Hooper looks flabbergasted with the decision. Scotland celebrate. Russell has a chance to kick them back into the lead ... and he nails it. Great kick – Scotland edge ahead again. A tense final 10 minutes or so awaits.
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Penalty! 66 min: Scotland 12-13 Australia (O'Connor)
Worrying times for Scotland as they are punished by the boot of O’Connor. If Australia can grind out a win here it will be a seriously impressive achievement against a very confident Scottish side. Andrew Cotter sounds rather depressed as he commentates on that ball floating through the posts. Kurtley Beale is a replacement for the Wallabies, along with Tate McDermott, while Tom Wright and Nic White go off.
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63 min: Australia win a penalty and attack with purpose into the Scottish half. These players have mostly had a long season already, but they look like there is plenty left in the tank and Scotland are going to have to give it everything to close this out ... And Poite penalises Scotland at the breakdown, and Australia have a penalty right in front of the posts, albeit from a fair way outside the 22. James O’Connor will kick it.
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61 min: Into the final 20 minutes, and Scotland have their noses in front after that stunning finish by Ashman. Sam Skinner has gone down with an injury and needs some treatment.
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Try! 59 min: Scotland 12-10 Australia (Ashman)
WHAT a finish by the hooker Ashman on debut. He dives for the corner, as Perese tried to force him into touch, and manages to twist his body and place the ball with assurance over the try-line. The celebrations are wild from players and fans as Scotland get back in front ... Russell misses a tricky conversion, however, so a penalty would take Australia back into the lead.
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59 min: Another scrum for Scotland five metres out, trusting their set-piece. And is Ashman over in the corner?? The TMO will take a look.
56 min: Scotland have a scrum five metres out. With a little over 20 minutes to play, there are just three points in it. As expected it’s turning into a closely-fought Test match, although perhaps the quality of rugby has been a little lower overall than we had hoped for. Hogg now bursts down the right, but loses it forward.
54 min: Russell slams a brilliant 50:22 spiral kick to the right corner and Scotland have the lineout. They win the set-piece ball, are initially driven back, but then spin the ball left and Van der Merwe is sent haring for the corner. He can’t get there – Scotland have the penalty advantage and work through the phases. A Hogg pass is intercepted, but Poite brings it back for the offside penalty advantage.
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52 min: Scotland come again, into the Australia 22, but Paisami pulls off a wonderful tackle-and-jackal, wins the penalty and the Wallabies can relieve the pressure. That was world-class.
47 min: Scotland scorch down their left wing, with Johnson getting his hands on the ball after Russell sets up Hogg, and Hogg pops a nice little pass to Johnson. They are nearly over in the corner. But some desperate and impressive scramble defence by Australia keeps the hosts out. Then there’s an odd moment off the pitch when Russell slightly man-handles a Wallaby water carrier as both wait for a clearing Wallaby kick to drop out of the sky. That probably sums up the frustration Scotland are feeling ... now the TMO Jonker asks Poite to tell Nic White to calm down (he just indulged in a bit of afters with a Scottish forward after a kick was nearly charged down).
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Try! 45 min: Scotland 7-10 Australia (Leota)
The Wallaby No 6 crashes over from fairly short range after a fine carry by Perese, and Australia lead! You sense that had been coming – even if Australia are a man down at the moment - Scotland are failing to impose themselves on their opponents at the moment. The sin-bin is over and Ala’alatoa is back on the field.
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44 min: Taniela Tupou goes off for an HIA after a thunderous collision with Sam Johnson and I fancy he won’t be coming back, he looks totally dazed.
43 min: It remains a bit of a scratchy, imprecise game. Both teams are showing ambition, but I fancy Gregor Townsend will be hoping for much better execution from his side in the second half.
41 min: With Australia under a bit of early pressure, Zander Fagerson gives away an early penalty for going off his feet at a ruck.
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Second-half kick-off!
Here we go.
Breaking news: Owen Farrell didn’t have Covid-19 after all, and will be available to face Australia at Twickenham next weekend:
Half-time! Scotland 7-3 Australia
Plenty to unpack from that 40 minutes of rugby ... Izaia Perese came on for Jordan Petaia just before the half-time whistle.
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Penalty! Scotland 7-3 Australia (O'Connor)
The Wallabies are down to 14 for the moment, but they are finally on the board.
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36 min: Disallowed try! Yellow card for Ala’alatoa! Scotland 7-0 Australia
Fainga’a rumbles towards the Scottish line and is tackled. Ala’alatoa clears out the ruck, potentially dangerously, after which Hooper nabs the ball and does superbly to smash through a challenge and reach over the try-line under the posts. The TMO is taking a look, and decides there is contact with a Scottish head from Ala’alatoa with a swinging arm. It’s a yellow card for Ala’alatoa and of course the try will not stand.
I think that’s a phenomenally harsh decision, there was no malice in the challenge by Ala’alatoa and any contact was negligible, but as always if you slow something down and replay it 10 times, it is possible to imagine there has been an infringement. It was slightly careless at very worst. That’s such a massive call in the context of the game too. What do you think? It’ll be interesting to hear the half-time analysis of that one but I think it’s a nonsensical decision.
On top of that, the video replays suggest Zander Fagerson had his fingers in the eye area of Hooper in the bust-up that followed the try.
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34 min: Len Ikitau directs a fine kick deep for the corner, which looks like it might be a brilliant 50:22 effort, but it’s adjudged to be Scotland’s throw into the lineout as perhaps he’d snuck over halfway before kicking it. Scotland throw it long and manage to clear the danger as we approach half-time. Scotland lead 7-0.
30 min: A searching low kick to the right corner, as Australia look at it, is tidied up impressively by Darcy Graham, who was under plenty of pressure from willing Australian runners. The Wallabies win an attacking lineout and Leota crunches into contact but is then penalised for holding on to the ball too long.
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28 min: After a nip-and-tuck first 20, that try for Scotland feels very significant. Russell is warming to his task, looking to unleash this very capable Scots backline at every opportunity. Now, though, Australia win a penalty with Scotland on the front foot thanks to a tremendous bit of work by Hooper at the breakdown, ripping the ball away from the tackled Zander Fagerson.
It would seem that our very own Gerard Meagher isn’t a fan of Jonker’s intervention in trying to rule out that try:
After a slow start, Marius Jonker is really growing into this game
— Gerard Meagher (@gerard_meagher) November 7, 2021
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Try! 22 min: Scotland 7-0 Australia (Watson)
That’s top work from Scotland. Ritchie wins a nice clean lineout, and a crunching drive from the Scottish forwards takes Hamish Watson crashing over the line. The TMO has a look. Poite says it’s a try. But it looks like the TMO, Marius Jonker, thinks there may have been an obstruction, with three Scottish forwards coming together to start the drive for the line ... It was Gilchrist who nabbed the ball after the lineout, then Watson took it and flopped over. Anyway, the try stands, and Russell clips a confident conversion straight through the posts. Good work from Townsend’s men.
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20 min: Hogg fields another high kick and smashes up the middle. Russell gets the ball in hand and pulls off an absolutely lovely one-handed offload to Schoeman, despite being double-tackled by two opponents, one of whom is the powerful Hooper. In the next phase of play, as Scotland near the Australia line, the visitors and penalised for offside. Russell kicks for touch ...
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18 min: The Wallabies are on the front foot now and punch their way up to nearly under the Scottish posts, but Poite spots an infringement by Leota (I think) and the hosts can clear.
15 min: Scotland win another scrum penalty but then run the ball off the advantage. Russell fizzes one pass right, then comes back to the left, and Hogg shows brilliant strength and elusiveness to burst down the left wing and into the Australian half. He passes inside as the Australia defence tries to scramble, and then it’s with Van der Merwe on the left touchline. The wing is tackled, and at the breakdown an Australian hand dips in and scoops the ball away, but Poite says the ball wasn’t out, and it’s a Scottish penalty ... they choose not to kick, smelling blood near the Australia line, but the Wallabies survive and soon mount a quick counter of their own with O’Connor kicking downfield. Exciting stuff, but with nearly 20 minutes played, it’s still 0-0.
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12 min: George Turner, the Scottish hooker, goes off injured and looks distraught. Canadian-born Ewan Ashman of Sale comes on for his first cap, at the age of 21.
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10 min: Still no score. Australia work through a few phases in midfield, then put up a garryowen, but the assistant referee has spotted an infringement and Scotland get a penalty and take it quickly, punching a hole in the Wallaby defence down the middle. Both sides are trying to run the ball, but there is a distinct lack of structure at the moment, and while there is ambition there is little precision.
8 min: At the first scrum of the match, which takes place on the Scottish 22 in a central area, the Wallaby prop James Slipper is penalised by Poite, and Scotland can clear their lines.
5 min: Australia win an early penalty and it’s a not a gimme for James O’Connor, but it’s not an especially difficult kick either, from around the 22 about a quarter of the way in from the touchline. It’s a horrible strike, though, and flies way right of the target, and we are still scoreless.
2 min: An interesting start. Stuart Hogg’s first contribution is tidy, fielding James O’Connor’s high kick and smartly offloading to Chris Harris, who crashes into contact on the Scotland right. The ball is worked back infield, where Finn Russell puts boot to ball, but his kick is charged down, and a flashy no-look offload from an Australia player is then swallowed up by an opponent. There is an attempted touch-finder by Russell which Kellaway does well to keep from going out of play. A frenetic start, with the kind of carefree offloading that would make Eddie Jones wince.
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First-half kick-off!
Romain Poite blasts his whistle – his 72nd and final Test match. And we are off as the Wallabies kick off.
Bagpipes! Flower of Scotland! Passionate fans, passionate players. Will the Wallabies be sent home to think again? Kick off is moments away.
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The teams are lined up. There is a moment to express rugby’s opposition to racism and discrimination, in the sport, and in the wider world ... and now it’s time for a rendition of ‘Advance, Australia Fair’.
Five minutes until showtime. The players are coming out on to the pitch at a sold-out Murrayfield. I’m looking forward to this.
“The schedulers have saved the weekend’s most intriguing contest for Sunday. All too often in recent years Scotland and Australia have presented as rugby’s equivalent of bridesmaids, but the Wallabies turn up to Murrayfield on a five-match winning streak, including a swaggering double over South Africa, the world champions. And Scotland will field seven British & Irish Lions, which, by the standards of the rest of this century, must feel more than they know what to do with.”
Gregor Townsend, the Scotland coach, speaks to Amazon Prime of his team selection – with six British & Irish Lions coming into the lineup: “A lot of these players were here before Tonga, so they’ve been training for two weeks, and they’ve been training well ... it’s a big challenge, Australia have won five games in a row, they beat the world champions twice ... and they play a brand of rugby which is not too dissimilar to ours ... the pack have also shown, particularly against the Springboks, that they are a formidable outfit.”
The Australia coach Dave Rennie – who used to coach Glasgow – has a chat: “We’ve improved ... we know there’s a lot more in us, and we know the challenges facing us while we’re in Europe ... Scotland will be really well prepared, they had a great Six Nations and we’ll be mindful of that.
“The three guys from France [coming into the Australia squad] have brought a different dimension ... We’re in a good place ... Scotland are very patient, they can go multi-phase ... I’ve coached a number of those boys, and we are aware of their threats ... We think they might kick a bit more than they did against Tonga ... they’re a good side, very well balanced.”
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Weather update: It’s sunny and cold in Edinburgh and looks pretty ideal for a good game of rugby. Stephen Larkham, who is a pundit for Amazon Prime today, is getting some stick off his colleagues, including the presenter Jill Douglas, for turning up without a coat. Brave.
Wayne Barnes took to Twitter this morning to wish today’s referee, Romain Poite, a happy retirement from officiating: this will be his final match, and he will apparently carry on as a police detective, his day job.
He’s been one of the very best rugby union referees for a long time, in my opinion, and will be missed.
Disagree? Tell me why via email or tweet @lukemclaughlin
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Teams
There is one change for Scotland from the team that defeated France at the end of the last Six Nations, with Pierre Schoeman coming into the front row for the injured Rory Sutherland. Compared to last week’s win over Tonga, Gregor Townsend has six Lions available to select, and all start today:
Scotland Hogg (capt); Graham, Harris, Johnson, Van der Merwe; Russell, Price; Schoeman, Turner, Z Fagerson, Skinner, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Watson, M Fagerson Replacements Ashman, Bhatti, Kebble, Hodgson, Bayliss, G Horne, Hastings, Steyn
As we know, there is no Cooper, Kerevi or Sean McMahon for the Wallabies, but it’s still a very handy looking team, with the lock Rory Arnold starting for the first time since the 2019 World Cup. Will Skelton and Kurtley Beale are named among the replacements, James O’Connor plays at No 10 in the absence of Cooper, and Michael Hooper is captain.
Australia Kellaway; Wright, Ikitau, Paisami, Petaia; O’Connor, White; Slipper, Fainga’a, Alaalatoa, R Arnold, Rodda, Leota, Hooper (capt), Valetini Replacements McInerney, Bell, Tupous, Skelton, Samu, McDermott, Beale, Perese
Referee Romain Poite (France)
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Missing the influential Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper, Australia may have to come up with something new at Murrayfield, writes Bret Harris:
Preamble
Yesterday’s games produced a few predictable mismatches to go along with a couple of stirring arm-wrestles – namely Wales v South Africa in Cardiff and France v Argentina in Paris. It feels unlikely that this afternoon’s eagerly awaited encounter at Murrayfield, between two accomplished teams, will be settled by more than a score or two either way. The expectation is that a busy weekend of autumn Tests will be concluded in considerable style.
The Wallabies arrive on a five-match winning streak, including two wins against the world champion Springboks, but are also missing key players such as Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi, who have stayed with their clubs in Japan rather than join this tour of Europe.
Scotland are looking and sounding very confident and back into the fold come the likes of Stuart Hogg, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Chris Harris and Sam Skinner. With Russell pulling the strings from No 10, the home fans will expect plenty of heads-up, ball-in-hand rugby and Dave Rennie’s Australia will be aiming to reply in kind, so it should be an excellent match. Pre-match reading, teams and more coming up.
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