- Townsend hoping to end Autumn Series on a positive note at Murrayfield
- The Aussies are in top form having recently beaten both England and Wales
Gregor Townsend believes it is vital for Scotland to beat Australia at Murrayfield tomorrow in order to boost confidence heading into next year’s Six Nations.
The Scots will take on a rejuvenated Wallabies side who have beaten England and Wales in successive weeks over the past fortnight.
Townsend’s men, meanwhile, have secured wins against Fiji and Portugal, but lost to world champions South Africa in what has been a fragmented campaign so far.
That has followed on from a poor Six Nations earlier this year which saw them win just two games, before a summer tour where they faced minnows such as USA, Canada, Chile and Uruguay.
Townsend admitted last week that a successful Autumn campaign now hinges on victory over the Aussies in the series finale. The Scotland head coach has stressed the importance of finishing the year on a high — and securing a much-needed confidence boost prior to the Six Nations starting in February.
‘If we win, it will give us a massive boost going into the Six Nations because we’re playing a quality side,’ said Townsend.
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend is determined to finish the Autumn Series on a high
Duhan van der Merwe scored during a comfortable win over Fiji to kick off the campaign
Australia head to Murrayfield in fine form after recent wins over Wales and England
‘I think it’ll be frustrating if we don’t deliver a performance that we’ve been working towards, if we don’t at least match that performance of South Africa in how we played that night.
‘So that’s what we’re building towards. We train for a reason. We train to improve. We train to find a way to win at the weekend and that’s the goal for us. It’s the last game of the year for us as coaches and players.
‘We know it’s going to be a sold-out crowd and we’re up against a team that is on form but also plays good rugby.
‘We see it as a big challenge for us, but one we are really looking forward to. We want to finish the year off as strongly as possible.’
Townsend has welcomed back all of his top players after fielding a largely second-string team in the rout of Portugal last weekend. He insisted that Tom Jordan couldn’t have done any more to warrant selection, but instead opted for the greater experience of Blair Kinghorn at full-back.
He said: ‘Tom has been outstanding for us and couldn’t really have done any more. But Blair has played a lot more and he gets that chance because of how he’s been playing for us and for Toulouse.
‘It’s Blair’s jersey now that he’s earned from before. He’s got to deliver what he’s capable of and that’s what we’re looking forward to on Sunday.
‘To be selected ahead of Thomas Ramos at full-back shows what the Toulouse coaches think of Blair, and what he must have been doing at training to have that confidence in him.
Matt Fagerson will earn his 50th cap for Scotland when he takes to the field this weekend
‘He’s been very consistent in how he’s played. They play a game which probably suits Blair’s strengths as well.’
Elsewhere, Matt Fagerson will win his 50th cap in Scotland’s back row at No 8, with former captain Jamie Ritchie also coming back into the team.
Up against an Australia side who have found a new lease of life under Joe Schmidt, Townsend expects it to be a free-flowing and entertaining affair between two teams who are at their best when on the front foot.
He added: ‘Australia will take a lot of confidence from beating England and Wales.
‘We expect it to be an open game, but we know we will need to produce our best performance levels in order to get the result we want.’
