Then I saw the result was 9-8?? Is that the lowest scoring Australian match in decades?

Based on the evidence of the match against Ireland last week, it seems to me that Deans is trying to build a winning pack of forwards for Australia. Once he has that in place, he may try to win using a more structured and conservative game or he may try and combine it with some exciting back playsuch as that which Australians were famous for in the past, but in the meantime, a bit like a golfer changing his swing, the Australian backs are being ignored as an attacking force while the main effort is concentrated elsewhere.

That is as charitable an outlook as can be made at this time.

But let’s not discount the possibility that Scotland are actually beginning to find a team again. As was noted in the thread about team’s histories, fallow periods tend to give way to better times if you can keep the faith with your game. Certainly, in the case of the Scots, some good fortune has been a long time coming.

We wont get anywhere until we have one world class lock and one very good one. We need two top locks .

And yeah, I’m still in shock at this loss.

John O’Neill has removed Dan Vickerman last year, Lote Tuqiri, Timana Tahu, and Hugh Mcmenniman this year.

With those players Australia would not have lost this or other matches this year.

O’Neill is the guilty party.

First of all well done Scotland.

What happened to the Wallabies? Initially I kind of expected Robbie to field his B team. Just as well as we didn’t. The one positive to come out of it is that Scotland will quite rightly know they beat our best, and that’s going to be a good shot in the arm for Scottish Rugby.

Scotland played well enough but didn’t we just bugger up when ever possible? Ahhhk Mun ….. back to bed.

Cooper took poor options, the outside backs couldn’t finish and Giteau had a poor game with the point scoring boot. Another case of ‘if only’.

The only positive to come out of this is I hope it renews interest in the game in Scotland. Australia has taken a big hit, but hopefully the Scots can profit for the good of the game.

Anyway congratulations to Scotland. They deserved the win.

One very blatant tactic adopted by the Australian scrum was to prematurely wheel on Scotland’s feeds.

Law 20.1 (k) states:

Stationary and parallel. Until the ball leaves the scrum half’s hands, the scrum must be stationary and the middle line must be parallel to the goal lines.

The Australian pack was systematically shifting left meaning they were neither stationary nor parallel before the ball was put into the scrum. That this was a deliberate tactic was made obvious by the fact that the Wallabies stayed square whenever the referee moved to the non-feed side of the scrum.

Don’t let me stop you. Keep kicking.

What is it with KO’s and Pothale’s fascination with SH kicking?

Anyway is this what happens when Giteau kicks well from hand – his place kicking goes astray?

Hopefully Palu is OK. I badly hurt my neck during a rugby game – fluke injuries happen all the time. Palu’s neck took a hell of a lot of brunt in that moment.

Hopefully he is not seriously injured

Australia is not the only team that has gone to Edinburgh thinking they’ll get an easy win – even whilst downplaying it in public.

Just back from RDS and Ireland walloping Fiji even in the pouring rain, but plenty of running rugby from the boys in green, Fiji were kicking it for a lot of the game – what is it with SH teams and this kicking fascination?