By Greg Mumm

Wow – talk about a heart starter. Not the comfortable game you wanted if you were planning to go back to bed at 4am, but a rewarding thriller that did justice to the knock-out stages and your commitment to getting up in the first place.

First of all, hats off to Scotland. An image that caught my attention on half time was of them calmly banding together and walking off the field with the lead, shoulder to shoulder united in their effort to make the semi-finals. This is the way they approached the challenge and very nearly pulled it off for each other and their country.

They were magnificent in their physical approach to the game, with aggression and leg-drive in their defence and their carries. Much has been made of the Australian defence in recent weeks, and of our scrum dominance, but rather than wilt before Australia, the Scots took them on. They charged in to them like their ancestors did the fields of Bannockburn, as if Australia’s removal of England had in Scottish eyes put them in their place, an image only strengthened by the location of the match.

The Scottish points came through a fearless approach at disrupting Australia’s attack and defence. They earnt each penalty by applying pressure and Laidlaw slotted them with a quiet process-orientated approach echoed throughout their game. Their first try, whilst sloppy by the Wallabies, came through all 15 Scottish players looking for weaknesses. Again their 2^nd and 3^rd tries came from chancing their hand, playing positive rugby built out of self-belief. Both the charge down and the intercept were decisions where players chose to ‘make something happen’, and for this they earnt the respect of the fans and I am sure the Australian players alike.

Joubert’s decision on Maitland will be discussed for years to come and the impact it had on the game, and I think the Scots can feel justifiably hard done by here. However the final penalty was fair in my mind, and Foley’s composure was just one of the signs why I think that despite the heart attack, Australian fans can be optimistic.

Foley’s calm under what must have been enormous pressure, especially considering he was 1 from 4 at the time, was only one example of composure and execution at key times that ultimately won Australia the game. The opportunity came from a Kurtley Beale kick which had shades of Nick White at Suncorp last year. The clock showed 76min, and the decision by Kurtley to kick was calm and assured despite the risk that giving possession away could played in to the Scots hands. It appeared to be grounded in the belief that if they could get field position they could win the match. They did, and as they say the rest is history.

But there were 3 more key moments that showed this intelligent belief;

1. The option to go for the lineout drive that lead to the Michael Hooper try in the 39min.
2. The intelligence to maul at 6 which opened up the blind side so that Genia and Mitchell could attack the space left by Maitland’s yellow card.
3. Foley’s restart just after Scotland took hit a penalty to make it 22-19, spotting the change in Scotland set-up, and kicking to the hole at the back which set up the Australian attack that lead to Tevita Kuridrani’s try. (Compare this to Scotland’s 78min kick that was too long to contest when they needed the ball)

Each of these showed a tactical awareness and skill execution at key times which ultimately kept us in the game and set up Foley’s final moment.

There were obviously plenty of areas we need to improve, some that I think will be fixed easily and others that will be difficult at this stage of The Cup.

Our defence had lost some of it unity, its cohesion which we were so impressed by against Wales. The structures were sound and there were no glaring holes, but we didn’t get off the line together consistently. This allowed Scotland to find small wins, one on one carries which got them over the gain line and kept Australia on the back foot. This made it difficult for Australia to put pressure on the breakdown, and whether it was this alone or Pocock’s absence, we weren’t able to slow their advance as much as in previous contests.

The scrum came under pressure for the first time and will face another test against a fired-up Argentina in a weeks’ time. For me, both of these have been strengths and will return. Whether it was a small amount of complacency or simply physical or mental fatigue after two huge weeks, both are easy fixes and can be resolved with a change in mindset and a bit of rest.

The areas that I think are harder to solve are our inconsistency under the high ball and the short pass interplay between our forwards. Without Izzy defusing everything from the back like days gone by, contestable kicks could hurt us, and each of the oppositions we could face in the coming games are strong here.

Secondly, as Slippers try and a number of turnovers in contact showed, the passing game of the Wallabies forwards appears to be significantly behind that of New Zealand for example, and Argentina can also threaten here. With teams learning how to shut off our wide attack, at least in patches, Australia’s ability to use their forwards to attack the gain line is significantly strengthened by short passes and offloads that prevent the defence from hammering our ball carries.

For now though I am sure that all the Wallabies want, and their fans, is a chance to catch their breath, get in to their week, and let the excitement slowly build for another fantastic opportunity next Monday morning.