A fired-up Junior Wallaby proved the heartbreaker and brought Australia’s dreams of a grand slam crashing to the ground at Murrayfield in a 27-13 loss to Scotland
Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu, who grew up in Melbourne, scored a try and was outstanding in a dominant performance from the home side in Edinburgh, who shut down the prolific try-scoring potency of the Wallabies and ran up a score late against the tiring visitors.
The defeat means the Wallabies side of 1984 will remain the only side to have completed the Grand Slam, from 11 attempts.
Duhan van der Merwe celebrates a try.Credit: Getty Images
To add injury to insult, star recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii came off with a wrist injury after 30 minutes after coming off worse for wear in a big tackle on Tuipulotu.
Parts of the Wallabies’ game that had proved so effective in the Wallabies’ wins over Wales and England evaporated against the fast and physical Scots. After scoring 12 tries in the first two weekends, Australia were held to one try for the game – and it was a consolation one at that.
The Wallabies put themselves under pressure all game with poor discipline, giving away 14 penalties, and they missed 34 tackles against a fast-and-accurate Scotland attack.
The rolling maul was also shut down by Scotland, who repeatedly turned the Wallabies away when attacking the line.
The game was still in contest with the Wallabies trailing 13-6 at 50 minutes, but Scotland dominated the final half-hour, running in three tries.
Sione Tuipulou scores for Scotland.Credit: Getty Images
Debutant winger Harry Potter scored a consolation try in the 74th minute, to ensure they weren’t kept scoreless.
Tuipulotu was in the middle of everything and so too was his Scotland-born grandmother, who had been flown over from Australia as a surprise and was met with cheers when repeatedly shown on the big screen at the stadium.
The home side led 7-3 in a half that lacked points, but not action.
The Australian side had all the ball early and immediately turned to their rolling maul to try and pick up where it left off last week in Cardiff. But as would prove the case all half, the driving maul didn’t work as well and after spurning points early, a Noah Lolesio penalty in the 10th minute put the Wallabies on the board.
Hard-fought action continued but the Wallabies’ discipline, which had been good so far on tour, began to slip, and Scotland finally got some ball and territory and pushed for points.
A Finn Russell kick in behind the Australian defensive line almost yielded a try but the ball grubbered too far and past the dead ball line, with no Aussie defenders in cooee.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the ground after getting injured.Credit: Getty Images
The Scots, too, turned down points several times to try for a try but were rebuffed, and a Russell penalty goal hit the posts in the 19th minute.
But the Wallabies’ ill-discipline gave Scotland field position again soon after and this time they made the most of it.
With a long lineout throw into the midfield, Tuipulotu caught the ball and burst through two attempted tackles from Andrew Kellaway and Len Ikitau to score.
Tuipulotu pointed to the crowd and the big screen flashed with his overwhelmed grandmother, to enormous cheers.
The Wallabies’ lineout and maul faded as badly as their discipline, and they couldn’t maintain any attacking possession thereafter.
Suaalii left the field in the 30th minute after clattering Tuipulotu in a strong cover tackle, but immediately grabbed his wrist as well. He and Tuipulotu then exchanged angry words when the Scottish captain came over to offer an interpretation about who’d come off best.
The home side had 90% of possession the last 15 minutes of the half, and that wasn’t helped by Australia repeatedly handing the ball back with poor discipline. They’d given away eight penalties by halftime and the sheds were a much-needed break in proceedings.
Things didn’t improve after oranges, though, when Scotland extended their lead with another penalty two minutes in from a penalty against Carlo Tizzano. The Force flanker won one back straight after the re-start though, scrubbing the error.
The onslaught wasn’t over though. Scotland continued to attack with good speed and width on both sides of the field, and they profited with a second try in the 50th minute.
A gap on the left sideline was exploited and big Scottish winger Duhan van der Merwe eventually found himself as an extra man, and he crossed for a try and an 11-point Scotland lead.
Missed tackles from the Wallabies saw Scotland get in behind repeatedly, though, and replacement flanker Josh Bayliss did well to score in the right corner.
Russell scored soon when more missed tackles allowed Scotland to go on the attack again and put nice passes together.
