Wilson sniffs a win over Wallabies

SCOTLAND loose forward Ryan Wilson believes the current side are capable of beating Australia for the first time in Sydney on Saturday.

The tourists have won only twice in Australia, and never in Sydney, but back-rower Wilson plans on changing that at the Allianz Stadium.

The Glasgow forward said: “Beating Australia over here is a big ask, but something this group aims to do.

“We want to push on and start winning these games.

“We are getting closer and closer and once you break through and start winning those games you get on a bit of a roll.

“We speak about momentum and we take a lot from that, and the momentum we gained when Vern (Cotter) was in charge in the Six Nations. That momentum has got to carry on.”

Wilson is happy to be playing at all. He damaged a shoulder in the RBS 6 Nations defeat to England at Twickenham, exacerbated it against Italy and, though he tried to play through the pain, managed only two more matches before he was forced to rest.

Nobody was more surprised than he was that he started last week in the 34-13 victory over Italy.

He had been picked on the bench, but, when John Hardie went down in the warm-up, he was shunted up into the starting team at only a few seconds’ notice.

“When you are on the bench you expect these things,” he said.

“It happened a few times at Glasgow Warriors last year. I was chuffed to bits to start the match, though I felt for Hards (Hardie).” Wilson feels at home in the Scotland set-up, having played under the new coaches when they were in charge at Glasgow and believes they have not really changed their style.

“Everything they did at Glasgow was at the highest level,” he said.

“Those two (head coach Gregor Townsend and forwards coach Dan McFarland) don’t miss a thing – they never did at Glasgow.”