FAGERSON EXPECTS WALLABIES TO BE FULL OF FLAIR

ASKED how he thinks Dave Rennie’s Australia will approach Sunday’s game at BT Murrayfield, Matt Fagerson automatically reflects back to a pivotal moment in his career under the Kiwi’s stewardship. It was the 28-21 European win over Exeter Chiefs in 2018 when Rennie’s Glasgow Warriors scored two sensational tries after running the ball from near their own line. The first came from a sweeping move started by Finn Russell, then a darting run up the touchline from Stuart Hogg, followed by further involvement from Russell and George Horne before Tommy Seymour went over. The second was started by Hogg from deep, carried on by Seymour with a run up the line, before Horne cut inside to feed Fagerson for the touchdown. Fagerson’s man-of-the-match performance helped him secure the No 8 jersey on a regular basis under the man who is now Australia head coach. He’s gone from strength to strength since then and will start for Scotland against the Aussies in an autumn Test that he expects will be exciting to watch for the fans. ‘Australia won’t be afraid to play under Dave,’ said Fagerson. ‘I remember those tries scored from our own five-metre line against Exeter. That was the way he wanted us to play and I think they’ll try to play expansive rugby on Sunday and keep the ball in hand. ‘I can see aspects of Dave’s influence in this Australia team. They love to play from deep and are pretty brutal in contact. They have some great jacklers as well. He was a brilliant coach, a play-before-you-kick sort of coach, and he brought that into the whole squad. ‘He knows how he wants his team to play and there are things he holds dear to his heart in terms of tactics and the way you go about your business. He has put his own spin on Australian rugby and where he wants them to go.’ Fagerson says Gregor Townsend’s side are facing a Wallabies team playing some superb rugby. He said: ‘They have just won five games in a row and they’ve beaten the world champions (South Africa) twice. ‘Clearly their credentials are way ahead at the minute. They’ve been playing really well and are developing as a team, so it will be a massive challenge. ‘To win, we need to trust in our systems. For the past couple of Six Nations we’ve had a really good defence. If we trust our systems and what we do well, we’ll hopefully come out with a good result. ‘We have a lot of attacking threats, players all over the park with some great individual talent. If we can pull all that together, it will be a pretty good occasion and hopefully we get a win.’