MY ACCOUNT
Scotland held off Australia to claim a narrow 15-13 win in their first November Test at Murrayfield, ending the Wallabies’ five-match winning run.
Sunday’s hosts had beaten Australia in the sides’ previous two meetings, but Dave Rennie’s men came into the clash in their best spell of form since a sequence of seven straight victories across September and October 2015.
Finn Russell’s penalty 12 minutes from time ultimately proved the difference, prompting Hamish Watson to tell Amazon Prime: “Something special is building here.”
Watson had opened the scoring in a tense back-and-forth encounter, powering over in the 22nd minute following a lineout.
Michael Hooper thought he had replied before the break, but the TMO intervened to rule out his try – Allan Alaalatoa sent to the sin bin for catching Matt Fagerson in the face – and James O’Connor’s penalty instead provided Australia’s only first-half points.
The Wallabies’ 14 men had their first lead early in the second half through Rob Leota’s score, only for debutant Ewan Ashman to squeeze the ball down in the corner for Scotland.
Another O’Connor penalty put Australia back in front heading into the closing stages, but the game was decided from Scotland’s tee and the boot of Russell.
