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Australia player ratings vs Scotland | 2024 Autumn Nations Series
By Neil Fissler
Australia player ratings: The Wallabies’ hopes of a grand slam on their British Isles tour ended with a 27-13 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield.
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Scotland’s Australian captain Sione Tuipulotu starred with a try, inspired by playing in front of his Glasgow-born grandmother. After wins in Twickenham and Cardiff, the Wallabies fell short at Murrayfield, capping a challenging week.
Here’s how we rated the Wallabies.
15. Tom Wright – 4.5
Became the bad boy of the Murrayfield ground after standing his ground and blocking Ben White, who was chasing his own kick, stopping a try. And only got limited time on the ball.
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14. Andrew Kellaway – 3.5
Made a massive tackle on Darcy Graham but then went and missed seven others, including one on Sione Tuipulotu, who scored a try, which isn’t good enough at the highest level. An afternoon to forget.
13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – 5
He almost looks to be playing on cheat codes. His offloading is superb, but his tackling could become a problem and force him off after colliding with Sione Tuipulotu.
12. Len Ikitau – 4.5
Struggled to get himself on the wrong foot and didn’t see enough of the ball to do much damage. His poor tackling helped contribute to Sione Tuipulotu’s try, but he did get stuck in at other times.
11. Harry Potter – 5
On the face of it didn’t cast any spells over Scotland apart from the magical finish for his first-ever Wallabies try, but he topped a lot of the attacking stats.
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10. Noah Lolesio – 4.5
His afternoon was summed up when he made a terrible mess of the opening kick-off and failed to win his head-to-head battle with Finn Russell and lost a couple of key turnovers.
9. Jake Gordon – 4
Back in the side after his Twickenham injury and worked hard ruck to ruck, but he did not get enough length on some of his kicks and left looking silly by Duhan van der Merwe’s footwork.
1. Angus Bell – 4
He still needs to answer questions about his scrummaging. He didn’t get much of a chance to run with the ball, which limited his effectiveness, but he made tackles when needed.
2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa – 4
He thought he was getting most of the afternoon off until getting his late call-up came under pressure in the scrum, and some of his line-out work was messy.
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3. Allan Alaalatoa – 4
Made sure that Pierre Schoeman didn’t have everything his own way, cleverly winning a penalty and making some tackles, but was non-existent when it came to the attacking side of the game.
4. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – 7
Another player who wasn’t expecting to start the game but chased and won the ball from kicks. He also pulled more than a few strokes in the line out.
5. Will Skelton – 6
He is a player who had added so much to the Wallabies mauling game and is big enough to swat Rory Darge aside as if he wasn’t there. Same about his engine.
6. Rob Valetini – 7.5
Australia’s best player, who was very busy in defence, was very disruptive in the lineout, generally got through a ton of eye-catching work and always seemed to do what was needed.
7. Carlo Tizzano – 7
Another very tenacious performance and was always on the prowl looking for his prey. He found himself on the wrong side a couple of times but was very quick to get over the top of the ball.
8. Harry Wilson – 6.5
Rattled Finn Russell with one huge tackle but then missed one on Josh Bayliss, leading to a try which was unforgivable but ruled the line out.
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Nick Frost – 4
On at 49 minutes for Skelton, Made a couple of tackles and won a line out.
17. Isaac Kailea – 4
Brought on to add some stability late on and did that after coming on at 51 minutes for Bell.
18. Zane Nonggorr – 4
On at 51 minutes for Alaalatoa. Do late to make any noticeable difference
19. Billy Pollard – 4
Thought he would be watching from the stands, but didn’t do much wrong after replacing Paenga-Amosa.
20. Langi Gleeson – 4
Did his best to get involved in the game after coming on at 63 minutes for Valetini.
21. Tate McDermott – 4.5
On at 60 minutes for Gordon. Made a couple of tackles, but the game was already slipping away.
22. Ben Donaldson – (71 minutes) for Lolesio – NA
23. Max Jorgensen – 5
Did some damage in the second half and looked dangerous when he was called into action after just 30 minutes for the injured Suaalii.
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If OZ are to regain their lost credibility they now need to tip up the Irish or at least run them close. Can't see that happening even though miracles occasionally occur
Congrats Scotland. Hope you enjoyed the training drill.
Seriously pathetic Oz.
Either Oz were on the take to lose with some great odds OR
the had had their big end of tour party the night before OR
they all would rather be fairies at the bottom of the garden.
Seriously it was barely low impact training defence.
SO BAD I would have it investigated for gambling influence. Serious.
I've never seen such powder puff soft effort in defence... at ANY level, including junior level. If players aren't sacked Schmidt ain't serious.
Woeful Wallabies is not a condemning enough term.
Hopeless kiwi coach
Australia are on the right track but people got ahead of themselves when they beat England. England's defence in that game was an absolute shambles and gifted Australia so many points. They've still got a long way to go but Scotland are a very good side and Joe Schmidt is definitely making progress.
Progress my arse. This is just kiwi bs to keep us down with a kiwi coach who is sabotaging us.
Nobody wants to see a pathetically weak Australia ( or Wales), but whether you're right about them being on the right track remains to be seen. There was no evidence of it today.