‘ALL HEART AT HOME’

Scotland 53 Australia 24

PETER HORNE says Gregor Townsend’s rampant Scotland troops are determined to transform Murrayfield into a fortress.

They ended their autumn series by destroying the Aussies in their biggest-ever win over one of the Southern Hemisphere’s big three.

The ruthless eight-try triumph over Michael Cheika’s team had the Edinburgh crowd in raptures, with the volume levels even managing to top the deafening roar from last week’s thrilling New Zealand tie.

That pushed head coach Townsend to claim there is no other ground in world rugby that can match the Scots’ home for atmosphere.

Now Glasgow centre Horne has said his side plan to harness the buzz generated by the Dark Blues faithful and use it to supercharge their bid for next year’s Six Nations. “It’s giving me goosebumps just thinking about the last couple of games,” said the 28-year-old. “At the start of the game, the anthem last week felt like it was just vibrating the whole stadium. It was incredible and it was the exact same this week.

“It’s hard not to get emotional when you’re singing the anthem but it’s really, really special. It is something Barcs [skipper John Barclay] has spoken loads about, making this place a fortress so that teams don’t want to come here. “I think we’ve laid down another marker. It’s great. We showed we weren’t just a flash in the pan last week running New Zealand close. We’ve come out and produced the goods. We want to make this place a fortress going into the Six Nations.” With Scotland scheduled to play just twice in Edinburgh – against France on February 11 and then England a fortnight later – Horne knows their Championship chances could hinge on them making the most of their home advantage. He said: “The crowd really did make it special the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can keep playing like we’re playing going into the Six Nations.”