Scotland have beaten Australia for the first time in 27 years, ending a 16-Test losing streak against the Wallabies, when they scored a nailbiting 9-8 win at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, on Saturday.

Two things conspired to help the brave Scots to a deserved win - Matt Giteau's normally unerring boot had failed him miserably on the day and the Scottish players tackled their hearts out.

Even though the Wallabies did score the only try of the match, they only breached the Scottish defence well into injury time and only after laying siege to the Scottish tryline for over five minutes.

That last period of relentless attack, was not the only time the Scots had to repel Aussie raids, but it was far more telling than their earlier efforts.

The Wallabies took an earlier lead when Matt Giteau slotted a fifth-minute penalty, but the normally reliable Wallaby flyhalf would not land another kick for 80 minutes - including missing a relatively easy conversion of a Ryan Cross try that would have given the Wallabies a late winner.

Giteau had missed two kickable penalties and a sitter of a drop-goal before that last missed conversion.

In between the fifth and 82nd minutes Scotland scored all the points - Phil Godman penalties in the 27th and 57th minutes, and a crucial drop-goal by Chris Paterson in the 76th minute.

In testing conditions there was lots of kicking, but even though it was a low-scoring game, it had plenty of drama - as the finish can attest too.

While Australia looked the better side in the first half, and completely dominated territory, the Scots grew in confident and found a belief in their defence that saw the numerous Aussie runners knocked back time and again.

It was a game contested between two battering-ram packs and the halfback combinations - with young Rory Lawson putting down a marker for a more regular place after coming on for injured captain Chris Cusiter and playing almost 60 minutes.

Ironically Cusiter left the field because he epitomised the heart and passion that won the game for Scotland - taking a big hit on defence, but getting back to his feet and again putting his body on the line, before being helped from the field looking worse for wear.

Man of the match: Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom can't be faulted for his team's loss, having put his body on the line for 80 minutes. But the real heroes were in the Scottish team - Rory Lamont's booming boot, Phil Godman's tactical understanding, Chris Cusiter's bravery, Johnnie Beattie and Rory Lawson all put their hands up. But our award goes to Scotland flank John Barclay, for his impressive allround performance - not only stealing numerous balls at the breakdown, but his impressive showing in helping repel those Aussie raids.

Moment of the match: You could go for Chris Paterson's drop-goal, which meant the Wallabies required a converted try to win, but the most crucial was Matt Giteau's missed conversion deep into injury time.

Villain of the match: None, not in this match.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens: Godman 2
DG: Patterson

For Australia:
Try: Cross
Pen: Giteau

Teams:

Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Chris Cusiter (captain), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jason White, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Nick De Luca.

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Quade Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Richard Brown, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Lachie Turner, 22 James O'Connor.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Jérôme Garces (France)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

365

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