Wallabies’ captain Harry Wilson says his crestfallen crew have been left “hurt” by the end of their British Isles grand slam dream at the hands of a buoyant Scotland.
Yet at least there was one elated Australian at Murrayfield after the comprehensive 27-13 defeat.
Scottish captain Sione Tuipulotu, Melburnian born-and-bred, proved inspirational for the hosts, his opportunist try in front of his own Glasgow-born gran on Sunday (Monday AEDT) sparking plenty of emotion.
Granny Jaqueline ended up handing over the Hopetoun Cup to the former Australia Under-20 player – the Wallaby who got away – as the visitors reflected gloomily on the reality check of a four-try-to-one beating.
To cap a chastening day, the Wallabies were left fretting over an arm injury to superstar cross-code centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who, on his second start, went off clutching his wrist after handing out a hit on Tuipulotu, which the Scottish captain described as “humungous”, late in the first half.
Apart from a bullocking start, the Wallabies were constantly blunted by a much superior Scottish defence to the porous English and Welsh rearguards of the past fortnight.
A side that scored 13 tries in their first two matches only scored on a breakaway in the 75th minute, when Harry Potter, with a fittingly magical little juggling act before he finally touched down, celebrated a debut try.
But the tries from Tuipulotu, a national record-breaking 30th for Ruhan van der Merwe, flanker Josh Bayliss and the brilliant Finn Russell, who scored 12 points, were a fair reflection of the Scots’ dominance as they crashed through too many Wallaby tackles.
“It is disappointing. I know everyone really wanted to be part of history, so it does hurt,” said Wilson.
Neither he nor Joe Schmidt were about to search for excuses despite a hugely difficult week in which the Wallabies had been deprived of training by frozen pitches and getting snowed in at their hotel.
And in the 24 hours before the game, they lost both key hooker Matt Faessler through injury and poorly lock Jeremy Williams.
“We were already a little bit glued together,” conceded Schmidt.
“But it’s a really good exercise for us to be put in that situation against a good team and I felt they stayed really competitive – albeit you can’t miss 30-plus tackles in an international against a really good team and expect to get the result.”
Yet with the frozen conditions miraculously replaced by blue skies on a perfect day for rugby, the Wallabies did enjoy a first 15 minutes on the front foot, in which they ought to have been rewarded by more than Noah Lolesio’s 12th minute penalty.
From then on, the Scots increasingly bossed them, and there could be no excuse for Tuipulotu latching on to a long line-out throw to barge between Andrew Kellaway and Len Ikitau for a score on his emotional day.
“I don’t really score many tries so that was pretty special to score while my gran was here – and knowing how much she also wanted to beat Australia!” beamed Tuipulotu.
He was later sent crashing by Suaalii, but still the former Rooster came off worse, leading to the pair having a no-love-lost contretemps afterwards. Tuipulotu was really up for all this.
“He’s got pretty numb arm, but we’re hopeful it’s not too bad,” said Schmidt. “But losing Joseph early didn’t help.”
After Russell and Lolesio exchanged early penalties following the break, the crowd were incensed in the 50th minute when Tom Wright stood his ground in defence, taking out Scottish halfback Ben White who was making a break.
Irish ref Chris Busby ruled no penalty and no card, and as if enraged by perceived injustice, the Scots roared forward to put in van der Merwe.
The Wallabies’ wheels began to come off as Bayliss ploughed over in the corner, taking three players with him, and Russell went over for a nicely-worked fourth.
It was all hugely anti-climactic after the first two legs of the tour had proved so exhilarating, but for Schmidt, a return to Dublin to play his old charges Ireland next Saturday (Sunday AEDT) gives his developing side a chance to depart on a high.
“Scotland are a good side and, hopefully, people can still see there’s some quality starting to be built through through an Australian side that’s actually starting to show a bit of depth, albeit with some pretty inexperienced players,” said Schmidt.
