Scotland suffer a repeat of their World Cup heartache
AUSTRALIA snatched a last-gasp victory over Scotland for the second time in 13 months when they beat their hosts by a single point at Murrayfield.
Centre Tevita Kuridrani’s forceful run and one-armed stretch to touch down on the line gave the Wallabies their second try four minutes from time and Bernard Foley’s conversion sealed the win.
Australia, who beat Wales 32-8 in Cardiff last weekend, made light of being a man down in the dramatic final minutes after replacement forward Will Skelton was sin-binned for dangerous play.
Two tries by exciting young centre Huw Jones in his first Test star raised the hopes for Scotland, who lost 35-34 to the Australians in last year’s World Cup quarter-final.
Jones, whose brace had helped Scotland lead 17-10 at the interval, reflected: ‘Absolutely heartbroken, we went in at half-time with a lead and thought we could hold on. Absolutely gutted. Our discipline was not good enough, there were too many offside penalties.’
Australia captain Stephen Moore said his team had to make a quick adjustment when Skelton went off but kept their discipline well.
‘It was a bit too close for comfort,’ he said. ‘We just hung on in the second half.’
Scotland made a fine start and followed up scrum half Greig Laidlaw’s penalty with Jones’s first try.
Fly-half Finn Russell set up the move with a deft chip over the defence and Jones was quick to follow through.
The Wallabies replied with a try in the 13th minute by centre Reece Hodge.
Fly-half Foley’s penalty had put Australia level but the Scots restored their lead when lock Richie Gray made the break inside the Wallaby 22 and passed to Jones who went over. Scotland only managed to add Gray’s try and the conversion to their total in the second half.
It still seemed enough, especially after Skelton was shown the yellow card, but the Wallabies chose to kick their penalties for touch as they sought to overcome a six-point deficit and it paid off. Scotland play Argentina next weekend.