Former Australia captain Michael Hooper has explained the “Scottish attitude” towards their rugby team ahead of this weekend’s showdown at Murrayfield. With the Wallabies aiming to keep their grand slam dreams alive, they’ll need to conquer Scotland’s Edinburgh fortress.
With coach Dave Rennie at the helm, the Wallabies won the last matchup between these two sides which happened to be at that same venue. But going back further, the Scots claimed victory in three of the last five Tests at Murrayfield, dating back to November 21, 2009.
Australia actually have a better head-to-head record between the sides in Scotland, but history won’t count for much when this weekend’s Test gets underway. This is Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies against Gregor Townsend’s Scotland, and both sides have shown how good they can be.
Scotland got the better of Wales 27-26 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium during the Six Nations and held onto the Calcutta Cup with a 30-21 triumph over the English. They also held their own in defeats to heavyweights France and Ireland, but also went down swinging to Italy.
With world-class players like Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu among their ranks, Scotland is a formidable foe on any day. But, four-time John Eales Medallist Michael Hooper still expects the hosts to downplay their ability going into Monday morning’s (AEDT) Autumn Nations Series Test.
“That’s the Scottish attitude to talk a team down, isn’t it? They always talk their team down,” Hooper said on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts.
“When you’re over there, and the Wallabies will talk about it this week, the Scots will be going, ‘Oh we’re not going great’ and all this and that, but the Scots are a very good team.
“I don’t think we need to take that same approach here about the Wallabies. The Wallabies are doing these things really well and we need these things to stick for us to have a really good performance against the Scots.
“The proof is out there in what these guys have done in the last two weeks, but they’ve got to stick at it and maintain that level.”
As for the Wallabies, they’ll be itching for this Test after getting the better of England and Wales in weeks gone by. Matt Jorgensen scored an 84th-minute winner to sink England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, and the win over Warren Gatland’s Wales was a one-sided masterclass.
Matt Faessler and Tom Wright both scored hat-tricks as the Australians ran in for eight tries during a 52-20 demolition of the Welsh. Samu Kerevi was shown a red card during the Test but it didn’t rain on the Wallabies’ parade or swing the match’s momentum in Wales’ favour.
There’s a genuine buzz about the Wallabies in Australia right now, and the inclusion of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has definitely gone a long way to driving that. This team has won two from two so far, and if they can keep that run going, then Australia’s grand slam hopes remain intact.
“Undoubtedly the arrival of the next gen and it’s super exciting,” Hooper explained when asked about this Wallabies team.
“What’s so difficult with Test rugby and why it’s such a great product at the moment is you go into every game and who’s going to win? That’s from positions one to, even the Welsh at 11 on the world rankings, it’s one to 11 and it’s each of a dice roll on each of these games.
“Yeah, there’s favourites and things but haven’t we seen those been upset in the last couple of weeks? That’s the beauty of it.
“If this team does that (win a grand slam), it’s an incredible achievement with how hard world rugby is, and to win two is a really good step, to win three would be fantastic, and to win all four would just be remarkable.”
