Dominant Scots bring Wallabies’ grand slam dream to crashing halt

Edinburgh: Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt refused to let a week of disrupted training, late changes and an injury to Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii be used as excuses for defeat against Scotland at Murrayfield, which ended Australia’s grand slam dream.

Scotland proved too strong for the Wallabies in a 27-13 victory in Edinburgh, scoring four tries to one in a dominant performance that effectively shut down all the Australian strengths seen in the wins on tour against England and Wales.

Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu raises the Hopetoun Cup trophy.Credit: AP

Scotland’s home win, inspired by their Melbourne-raised captain Sione Tuipulotu, ensured the Wallabies’ bid to go undefeated on the spring tour is over, and left the 1984 Wallabies as still the only Australian side to have claimed a grand slam of wins from 11 attempts.

To add injury to insult, Suaalii left the field with an arm injury after 30 minutes while putting on a big hit on Tuipulotu and will be in doubt for the last clash of the tour against Ireland on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT).

The mid-game injury came after the Wallabies lost lock Jeremy Williams (illness) and hooker Matt Faessler (calf) on match eve. Freezing weather restricted training all week and included cancellation of a captain’s run due to the team bus being unable to depart in snow on Saturday.

“You’ve got to be able to learn to roll with those punches,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t get a couple of decisions in that first quarter that we’ve got to be able to cope with, so it’s a good learning experience for what is still a pretty young team.

Josh Bayliss of Scotland scores his team’s third try.Credit: Getty Images

“Some of it was frustrating for us and I think we got distracted by that, and losing Joseph early as well didn’t help, we were already a little bit glued together, and losing a couple of guys in the lead-up to kick-off … it’s a really good exercise for us to be able to be put in that situation against a good team.

“And to be fair to our guys, I felt they stayed really competitive, albeit for the fact that you can’t miss 30-plus tackles in an international against a really good team and expect to get the result at the end of it.”

Tuipulotu, who played for the Rebels and the Junior Wallabies, scored the first try and was outstanding in a strong display from the home side, who effectively shut down the try-scoring potency of the Wallabies and ran up a score of their own late against the tiring visitors.

Wallabies captain Harry Wilson and teammates react after the defeat.Credit: AP

With his Scotland-born grandmother Jaqueline in the stands, who was often flashed up on the big screen to great cheers, Tuipulotu led from the front and even went toe-to-toe in an argument with Suaalii after copping a “humungous hit” from the Aussie centre.

“When I popped up, I was just kind of looking around at who it was and then I saw that he was on the ground, so I said something to him and then he went off the pitch. That’s all I can really say about it,” Tuipulotu said post-game.

Asked about Suaalii’s injury post-match, Schmidt said: “Yeah, he’s got a pretty numb arm, but we’re hopeful it’s not too bad.”

Parts of the Wallabies’ game that had proved so effective in the Wallabies’ wins over Wales and England evaporated against the fast and physical Scots. After scoring 12 tries in the first two weekends, Australia were held to one try for the game - and it was a consolation one at that, with Harry Potter crossing in the 74th minute.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the ground after getting injured.Credit: Getty Images

Scotland believed the Wallabies had not faced a team with their defensive strength yet and so it proved, with the big ball-runners unable to make yards and the rolling maul shut down repeatedly.

The Wallabies, in contrast, put themselves under pressure all game with poor discipline, giving away 14 penalties, and they also missed a killer 34 tackles.

The game was still in contest with the Wallabies trailing 13-6 at 50 minutes, but Scotland dominated the final half-hour, running in three more tries against a tiring Wallabies defence.

Coach Gregor Townsend said post-game it was the most caps he’d fielded as Scotland coach, and the hosts were comfortably the more settled and cohesive side on the field.

Schmidt’s selections will come under some level of scrutiny, in that context, with influential pair Fraser McReight and Taniela Tupou both sitting on the sidelines at Murrayfield.

The Wallabies have avoided talk of trying to win a grand slam, but after the prospect was removed by Scotland, captain Harry Wilson conceded it was disappointing.

“Obviously, we were really trying to take it week-to-week, but I know everyone really wanted to be a part of a bit of history,” Wilson said.

“It does hurt but for us it’s pretty exciting to get the opportunity against Ireland in six days’ time.”

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