UNDERMANNED QANTAS WALLABIES DEFEATED BY SCOTLAND IN EDINBURGH

Nov 26 • General News, International • 2451 Views • Comments Off on UNDERMANNED QANTAS WALLABIES DEFEATED BY SCOTLAND IN EDINBURGH

The Qantas Wallabies have been defeated by Scotland 53-24 in a disappointing end to their 2017 Spring Tour campaign at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.

In Stephen Moore’s final Test in a Wallabies jersey, the men in gold played the entire second half a man down after Sekope Kepu was shown a red card just before the break.

Prior to Kepu’s send-off for a shoulder charge on Scotland flanker Hamish Watson, the Wallabies had worked their way back from an early 10-0 deficit through a pair Tevita Kuridrani tries in the space of three minutes to lead 12-10.

But that would be their only lead of the match after Ali Price reached out to score on the whistle to give the home side a 17-12 advantage at the interval.

The Wallabies began the second half by stringing 20 phases together before Kurtley Beale darted over to level the scores, but from there, it was all one-way traffic for the next 15 minutes as Scotland romped in four tries against the undermanned Wallabies to find themselves up 39-17 at the midway point of the second half.

The visitors were able to get back on the scoresheet through replacement forward Lopeti Timani eight minutes later, but by then they were up against it and soon after a try to Scottish skipper John Barclay put it all out of reach.

Another try to Stuart McInally on full time allowed the Scots to celebrate their biggest ever win over Australia and their first against the Wallabies at Murrayfield since 2009. The Wallabies, meanwhile, finished the match with 13 men after Beale was yellow-carded for batting the ball dead in-goal in the 77th minute.

The afternoon didn’t start well for Scotland, losing star fullback Stuart Hogg to a groin injury in the warm up, however it was his replacement Byron McGuigan who notched their first try after toeing through on a loose ball in the 17th minute.

The Wallabies showed patience to hit back, working the ball downfield for twenty-plus phases before Kuridrani scored on the end of a Bernard Foley grubber.

Moments later, it was the Foley and Kuridrani show again as Foley scooped up a dropped ball and found his centre in support to crash over for number two.

Then Kepu’s leap at Watson sent the match on a very different course, as a Scotland team high on confidence marched straight over to take a lead at the break.

Beale’s try capped another lengthy drive by the Wallabies in the 43rd minute, but then some errors led directly to Scotland tries and left the visitors reeling.

Scotland scored the next four through Sean Maitland from a dropped catch by Hodge, then lock Jonny Grey after Will Genia attempted an intercept. Then it was McGuigan in for his second and centre Huw Jones, who scored after flyhalf Finn Russell tricked the Wallabies by taking a quick tap from a penalty and passed wide to Jones.

Lopeti Timani was only on the field for a minute before he scored to stem the tide. But with five to go, Barclay beat three Wallabies defenders to score between the posts, and McInally took it over from a maul to cap off a miserable day for the men in gold.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

15 min: Finn Russell pen AUS 0-3 SCO

17 min: Byron McGuigan try, Finn Russell con AUS 0-10 SCO

34 min: Tevita Kuridrani try, Bernard Foley con AUS 7-10 SCO

38 min: Tevita Kuridrani try AUS 12-10 SCO

40 min: Ali Price try, Finn Russell con AUS 12-17 SCO

HALF TIME

43 min: Kurtley Beale try AUS 17-17 SCO

46 min: Sean Maitland try AUS 17-22 SCO

49 min: Jonny Gray try, Finn Russell con AUS 17-29 SCO

57 min: Huw Jones try AUS 17-34 SCO

61 min: Byron McGuigan try AUS 17-39 SCO

69 min: Lopeti Timani try, Bernard Foley con AUS 24-39 SCO

75 min: John Barclay, Finn Russell con AUS 24-46 SCO

80 min: Stuart McInally try, Finn Russell con AUS 24-53 SCO

Scotland 53 (Byron McGuigan 2, Ali Price, Sean Maitland, Jonny Gray, Huw Jones, John Barclay, Stuart McInally tries; Finn Russell 4 cons; pen) defeated Australia 24 (Tevita Kuridrani 2, Kurtley Beale, Lopeti Timani tries; Bernard Foley 2 cons)