Scotland secure a heroic victory over Australia

Two wins from two for Andy Robinson and Scotland.

Matt Giteau missed a last minute conversion to reward a heroic Scottish performance, to beat the Wallabies for the first time in 27 years.

I have not seen Scotland play that well in a long time! In the last ten minutes their attacking play and defence was solid and inspirational.

My emotions were taken on a roller coaster ride. After Chris Paterson’s drop goal I was certain that was the victory sealed, but how wrong I was and a quick break from Australia’s James O’Conner seen them threatening the Scottish line. I thought that Scotland would hold off. But Ryan Cross managed to cross over the line to bring the Aussies within a point!

It was now down to Matt Giteau, who had left his kicking boots in Australia, to kick for the win. All he needed to do was kick from the left of the posts out on the 22 and a win would have been in order. It was a sure bet, I would have put my student loan on him securing it, but thank god I didn’t, and thank god he missed.

There were a number of notable performances that stood out within this near perfect performance. Alex Grove is fantastic in defence he seems so comfortable on the international stage, although he has only earned his second cap, he looks as comfortable as the most experienced men on the field.

Rory Lawson had a notable performance coming on for an injured Chris Cusiter. His tactical kicking was effective and played well, with good distribution to Phil Godman. It really has enhanced my view at how competitive the Scrum half position is within the Scotland team. Mike Blair failed a fitness test and had to miss the game which allowed Lawson to bench even though he is considered third choice.

It was seriously the best defensive performance I have seen from any international team, never mind just Scotland. Scotland made 129 tackles and missed just 5, which just shows the effort and defensive technique that went into the performance, Scotland have always impressed defensively, even under Frank Hadden Scotland would always tackle well.

The only worrying thing, and I’m not taking this win away from the Scots, but they were rarely given an opportunity to attack the Aussie's line. Alex Grove, although fantastic in defence, has not yet shown his creativity in attack, something I’m eagerly awaiting. Graeme Morrison had a few spills under pressure, but was replaced by Nick De Luca at half time who made a couple of good runs. The Scottish scrum held up well against an Australian pack who are fast becoming famous as one of the best Scrummaging sides in the world.

Once again it was a fantastic win for Scotland, even if Giteau had converted the try, I would have still been pleased with the Scottish performance. Andy Robinson is doing something right. However I’m not getting too ahead of myself, Scotland still need to face a tough Argentine side and the whole 6 Nations campaign is yet to follow. I think then we can have a fair assessment of how well Robinson is doing.