Scotland claimed their first win over Australia in nearly three decades after a defense-inspired 9-8 victory in their one-off Test match at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Australia dominated possession throughout but the Scots, under new coach Andy Robinson, produced a world-class defensive performance to keep the Wallabies at bay despite conceding a last-minute try from Ryan Cross.
Matt Giteau went on to miss the conversion, leaving Robinson to label his side’s display as the most courageous he has ever been involved with in rugby.
And he tried to play down his own influence on the victory, opting to heap praise on defense guru Graham Steadman and stand-in skipper Ally Kellock.
Robinson declared: “Graham has done a remarkable job. The defensive performance was also the best I can remember.”
“We needed a bit of luck — but we worked so hard to earn that luck,” he said. “If we can show the same degree of courage every time we play, we can grow this team.”
“I would have preferred a little more width to our play, but that is simply evidence that we still have to improve. This is a platform for that to happen,” Robinson said.
The result was Australian rugby’s worst Test defeat in decades, newspapers said yesterday.
Rugby writers said Australian rugby had sunk to a new low after the Wallabies lost their seventh international of the season.
“It may be the worst Test loss by Australia since the 1973 crash to Tonga in Brisbane,” the Sunday Telegraph’s Jim Tucker said.
The Sun-Herald’s Greg Growden said it was the Wallabies’ worst defeat of the professional (post-1995) era.
“This is one of the most inexplicable moments in Australian rugby history and without doubt their worst moment of the professional era,” he said.
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