Australia 6 Scotland 9
5 June 2012
Scotland retained the Hopetoun Cup on Tuesday after recording a last-minute 9-6 triumph over Australia in terrible weather at Hunter Stadium.
An 80th minute Greig Laidlaw penalty sparked mass celebrations from the touring side, who made it back-to-back wins over the Wallabies.
But it wasn’t pretty in Newcastle, a host venue that became the tenth Australian city to host an international. This was ugly weather for rugby.
Scotland entered the game in the knowledge they had claimed the spoils the last time these two met. And because of the inclement weather it seemed a similar scoreline to either side was likely in their June opener, with Australia readying themselves ahead of this weekend’s three-Test opener with Wales while Scotland were set to go on to fixtures against Fiji on June 16 and finally Samoa on June 23.
The rain wasn’t the only hampering issue in Newcastle as a strong wind – favouring the visitors in the first-half – meant territory was going to be in one country’s corner either side of the break. Subsequently the Scots were in the ascendancy for most of the first 25 minutes and had their efforts rewarded.
A couple of Laidlaw penalties from his three attempts in the first 40 saw Andy Robinson’s side take a 0-6 lead after half-an-hour, with the Wallabies struggling to get out of their half. When they did enjoy a rare piece of possession and looked to kick out of the sheets of rain, the wind then pulled them backwards.
But they did get on the board from a rare foray into opposition territory when New Zealand-born Mike Harris sent over his first Test points on 33 minutes.
That was how the score remained going into the break as Scotland took a slim advantage into the sanctuary of a dry changing room. They knew Australia would come hard though in the second-half as it would be now be the hosts enjoying the gale force wind and the rain on their backs, not in their face.
And so it was as the Wallabies returned in much better form and promptly set up camp in the opposition half, picking and going on numerous occasions as Scotland did well to hold them out. They did get some reward for their efforts however when Harris levelled on 43 minutes.
When replacement lock Rob Simmons was ruled not to have grounded the ball after several drives to the line from Australia, it seemed the Scots had managed to weather the storm. Indeed they had as, with only the dying embers of the game remaining, they set about having one last crack at the Wallaby line.
It paid off too as South African referee Jaco Peyper blew for an offence at the breakdown and Edinburgh fly-half Laidlaw stepped up confidently to seal a workmanlike and much-needed win after what was a poor Six Nations.
Scotland: 9 (G Laidlaw 2/3 penalty goals)
Australia: 6 (M Harris 2/4 penalty goals)
Match Officials
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Keith Brown (New Zealand)
Television match official: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Teams
Australia
Luke Morahan, Digby Ioane, Anthony Faingaa, Mike Harris, Joseph Tomane, Berrick Barnes, Will Genia, Scott Higginbotham, David Pocock (c), Dave Dennis, Nathan Sharpe, Sitaleki Timani, Dan Palmer, Stephen Moore, James Slipper
Replacements :Saia Fainga’a , Ben Alexander, Rob Simmons, Michael Hooper, Nick Phipps, Pat McCabe, Adam Ashley Cooper
Scotland
Stuart Hogg; Joe Ansbro , Nick De Luca , Matt Scott , Sean Lamont ; Greig Laidlaw , Mike Blair ; Ryan Grant , Ross Ford ( capt), Euan Murray ; Alastair Kellock , Richie Gray ; Alasdair Strokosch , Ross Rennie , John Barclay .
Replacements: Scott Lawson , Jon Welsh , Tom Ryder , Richie Vernon , Chris Cusiter , Duncan Weir , Tom Brown.
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