IT’S SCOTLAND THE RAVE!

Townsend has fashioned a team in his own image who are on the cusp of greatness

IT SPEAKS volumes for this Scotland team that the only disappointment from this autumn Test series is that it is over. This weekend there will be no massed ranks heading for Murrayfield. Fans will have to wait until the Six Nations next year before they can savour such excitement again.

When it comes, the support will travel on a heady wave of optimism and anticipation. For this is a Scotland team standing on the edge of greatness.

Vern Cotter laid the foundations. Gregor Townsend has built on them. The Scotland coach has created a team in his own image. He played on the edge. So does his team.

And that exciting brand of rugby is why the Scotland fans have bought into the Townsend era in such numbers.

Sold-out signs against New Zealand and Australia were expected. But more than 67,000 to watch Samoa? That tells its own remarkable story.

Even Australia head coach Michael Cheika appreciated the talent of the opposition in defeat. He had no complaints about the first-half red card shown to Sekope Kepu that left his outfit seriously wounded and accepted his team were beaten by a better side.

‘Scotland are advancing,’ he said. ‘They have beaten us twice in six months and are climbing the world rankings.

‘They could maybe be up to fifth when the new rankings come out this week and that is a fair reflection on their play.

‘Vern Cotter came in and brought the Scotland team a long way and now Gregor has come in and brought some different and special things into the set-up.’

The highest score against another Tier-One nation. Biggest win over any Southern Hemisphere side. The history books needed rewritten following the emphatic win over the Aussies.

It was achieved against a background of losing Stuart Hogg to a hip injury just 25 minutes before kick-off.

Townsend always knew Hogg had been a concern as he had been carrying the injury in training. As crisis management goes, the Scotland coach passed this latest test with flying colours.

Sean Maitland moved to full-back from the wing. Byron McGuigan came off the bench and onto the wing in Maitland’s place. Both turned out to be among Scotland’s heroes.

Maitland’s second-half try was the pick of the bunch. Hogg would have been proud of it himself.

And as for McGuigan? Well, he was released from Glasgow Warriors three years ago by Townsend. Now he is scoring two tries on his first start for Scotland under the man who let him go.

‘I was young and wanted to play every week and it didn’t happen for me at Glasgow,’ said McGuigan, now at Sale Sharks.

‘Even after that, I always remained hopeful I would get called up one day and it has happened under Gregor. It is a privilege to be here as there is definitely something special brewing here.’

Naysayers will say the outcome would have been much different if Kepu hadn’t been red-carded two minutes before the break when Australia were two points ahead.

Don’t listen to them. It wouldn’t have affected the outcome, only the score. Such is the quality in this Scotland team, nothing is going to stop them.

The floodgates were opened by Ali Price just after the red card when he went over for Scotland’s second try.

The live-wire scrum-half never stopped taking the game to the Australians. Nobody deserved to score more.

Maitland got the third then Jonny Gray, who went over for the fourth, showed he is back to his best after an injury-hit start to the season with Glasgow Warriors.

Huw Jones carried the ball in one hand for his touchdown for the fifth as he became the only Scot to score against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia.

McGuigan secured the sixth. John Barclay deserved to get on the scoresheet after captaining the side superbly in all three Tests and went over for the seventh.

Hooker Stuart McInally, who scored two tries against Samoa, got the eighth and final try of the game and showed he is now a rival to Ross Ford and Fraser Brown for a regular starting jersey.

The only thing missing from Finn Russell’s top-class performance was a try of his own. The same goes for No8 Ryan Wilson.

Then there were the unsung front-row heroes. Darryl Marfo, Jamie Bhatti and Simon Berghan were only involved due to injuries to others. Yet they all exceeded expectations.

Bhatti was magnificent. He did well in the scrum and a couple of barn-storming runs made you forget that he was actually a prop forward.

Ever the perfectionist, Townsend will not let some aspects of the performance go unnoticed.

He will wonder why his team switched off for three first-half minutes to allow Australia back into the game through two tries from centre Tevita Kuridrani.

The first came from Russell missing touch, which allowed the attacking move to build.

The second came from Tommy Seymour’s fumble on halfway that was pounced on by Bernard Foley, who chased his own kick to play in Kuridrani again.

Kurtley Beale scored a third for the Aussies just after the break to put them back into the lead but after that they folded under Scottish pressure. A late score

from Lopeti Timani was mere consolation.

But picking flaws in the performance would be unfair. Throughout the series, Townsend and his team have had Scotland fans on their feet and how often have we been able to say that through the years?

Russell dictated play with his usual artistry, turning the Aussies this way and that.

His quick-thinking for Jones’ try by taking a tap penalty when all expected him to kick for touch exemplified the confidence coursing through his veins.

‘He’s different class, the way he sees space, the way he beats players,’ said Jones of Russell. ‘It’s a real pleasure to play with him. He’s a quality player.

‘Half the time I don’t know what he’s going to do, so the opposition definitely don’t. You’ve definitely got to expect the pass from anywhere. He’s a joy to play with.

‘Is it stressful? Not really. We all want to get our hands on the ball.

‘You’ve just got to be ready for that pass. It could be a short one, he could throw a four-man skip.

‘He will do some mad things. But, most of the time, they’ll work.’

On the try-scoring move, Jones confessed: ‘We hadn’t worked on that during the week. We spoke about it at half-time. Gregor said it was going to be on.

‘I didn’t call for it. I didn’t actually want it! I think Finn saw an opportunity and threw it. I was happy to get over.

‘I look around at the guys in the back line and feel like anyone can break that line. Any one of them can play that scoring pass.

‘Every time we attack, we feel like we’re going to break through. It gives us massive confidence.

‘There’s always a danger, when you get a few tries ahead, that you sit back and try to close up the game.

‘But we kept saying to each other: “Let’s kill them off, keep scoring, don’t think the game is won”.’

Who knows what this support will do for entertainment this weekend?

They are biding time until the Six Nations. Bring it on. ‘We haven’t spoken about the Six Nations much yet but we’ve got high aspirations,’ admitted Jones.

‘We will definitely be looking to improve on last year. I don’t think we’re at our peak.’

Crikey folks! Things are going to get even better.