By BBC (Sports) | Created at 2024-11-23 16:21:40 | Updated at 2024-11-23 18:27:07
2 hours ago
Autumn Nations Series: Scotland v Australia
Venue: Scottish Gas Murrayfield Date: Sunday, 24 November Kick-off: 13:40 GMT
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland and 5 Live Sports Extra, follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
During the week, Scotland centre Huw Jones said something that was brilliant in its simplicity, something that cut through the flannel in the preamble to Australia at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Never mind the jaded talk of potential and Scotland's occasional fondness for slapping themselves on the back with chat about "beating anyone on our day".
No, Jones was living in the real world, not a fantasy land, when he said that games like this one against Australia are ones they have to win "if we really want to be taken seriously".
Never mind summer tours against inferior opposition or autumn strolls against Fiji B and Portugal, he said. "We've got to nail this weekend against Australia."
That's it. Scotland are a team of exhilarating moments, of genius cameos and wonder tries that take the breath away. They have outstanding individuals.
What they don't have, yet, is an outstanding, potentially championship-winning team.
The Six Nations doesn't begin until February, but Sunday could be seen as the de facto start. To make an average 2024 look better and to kick on into 2025 in good heart, Scotland must win.
When they pulled back the curtains in their hotel rooms on the Royal Mile on Saturday morning, the Wallabies would have been forgiven for dreaming of the beach back home.
It is 23 degrees in Melbourne these days; it's 25 in Sydney; 27 in Brisbane; 33 in Perth. In Edinburgh? Sleet, snow, sub-zero. Cars sliding, pedestrians cowering, pitches frozen. They've got Bondi Beach. We've got Storm Bert.
The Wallabies also have two legs of an autumn grand slam in the bag, so the thought of making it three from three on Sunday is probably providing a warm glow in camp despite what Edinburgh is throwing at them.
Australia haven't been this interesting in years. They're in town and they've got momentum.
In their wins over England and Wales, their traditional flamboyance was married with discipline and steel, a hybrid of classic Wallaby swagger and the ruthless efficiency their coach, Joe Schmidt, perfected as coach of Ireland.
They've got natural ball players but they're hitting on a gameplan that also includes strong, direct carries, tremendous efficiency at the breakdown, pragmatism and power. Will Skelton, the lock, is an insanely large human being.
On Friday, Schmidt was asked if he felt comfortable hearing all the praise his team were getting. No, he said. "I'm permanently uncomfortable."
'Permanently Uncomfortable' would have been a nice title for his book had he not already gone with the more mundane 'Ordinary Joe'.
It’s a nonsense, of course. There’s nothing ordinary about him at all.
If he makes it three from three on Sunday, having lost five out of six in the Rugby Championship, it will set up an epic against Ireland next week.
That intoxicating prospect - Schmidt returning to Dublin to kill the thing he loves, to butcher a line from Oscar Wilde - is why, at a guess, most people outside Scotland are hoping for a Wallaby win at Murrayfield.
Autumn games don't normally have the import of championship rugby, but this one feels a little different, for both nations.
For Gregor Townsend it's a chance to finish off the year with a big scalp, a victory that would propel them into next year, where they have faltering Italy and refreshening Ireland at home in the first two weekends of the Six Nations.
Lose, though, and it's navel gazing time again.
Townsend wasn't hiding from that on Friday. "It must be one of the most experienced teams we've selected in the last eight to 10 years," he said. "That should count for something."
That's as close to 'no excuses' as you’re going to get with Townsend, which is bold given the way of things between these two countries over the last decade or so.
Scotland have won three of the last five, it's true, but eight of the last nine have been settled by six points or fewer, including four that have been won by a single point.
Scotland are a settled team with 640 caps in their starting line-up. The Wallabies have 406.
Scotland have familiarity in all combinations on the pitch. Australia, meanwhile, have a midfield partnership that has started one game together, a pair of locks who have never played together for their country, and a debutant on the wing.
There has been an understandable love bombing of the Wallabies on this tour, particularly around Joseph Suaalii, the fantastically-talented centre plucked from rugby league, and Tom Wright, currently one of the most dangerous attacking full-backs in the global game.
They're still in the early stages of Schmidt’s coaching, though. They score a lot, but they also concede a lot. Their virtues are blindingly obvious, but it’s weakness that Townsend is looking for.
Suaalii is an attacking wonder, but no kid with only 100 minutes of Test rugby is the finished article. Playing 13 demands tremendous nous in defence and Suaalii can’t have it after a game and a bit.
Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones will surely want to test the young man's grasp of defence in the rarefied air of international rugby.
Scotland's team was largely predictable, with Jamie Ritchie getting the nod in the one contentious area in the back row.
The former captain is at a major point in his Test life. Still only 28, Ritchie has been in and out for the big games of 2024.
He started at seven against Wales in the Six Nations; wasn't in the 23 for France; started at six against England; was on the bench against Italy; wasn't in the squad against Ireland; was on the bench against the Boks this month and now starts at six again.
This needs to be a big day for Ritchie, in the air and on the floor, where he excels.
It needs to be a big day for all the Scotland players. They are a collection of excellent individuals who are forever toiling to find the consistency of potential champions. Jones called it. Time to step up and deliver.
