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A moment of madness from Sekope Kepu proved hugely costly for Australia as their European tour ended with an embarrassing 53-24 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield.
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Two tries in three minutes from Tevita Kuridrani, both set up by Bernard Foley, helped the Wallabies come from 10-0 down to lead with half-time looming on Saturday.
However, Kepu was then shown a red card in the 39th minute, the prop rightly dismissed after thundering his shoulder into the head of Hamish Watson as he cleared out the flanker at a tackle.
Scotland, impressive in defeat against New Zealand last weekend, regained the lead from the resulting penalty courtesy of an Ali Price try, before making their numerical advantage count in emphatic fashion after the interval.
They had never managed more than three tries in a match against Australia, but finished with an extraordinary eight on this occasion and a record points haul versus the Wallabies.
IT'S All OVER AT BT MURRAYFIELD AND SCOTLAND HAVE BEATEN AUSTRALIA 53-24! #AsOne pic.twitter.com/BtZLrEaRA6
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 25, 2017
As a result, former Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore ended his career with a thumping defeat. The vastly experienced hooker was warmly applauded when he came off after an hour.
Sale wing Byron McGuigan claimed two of Scotland’s tries, having been drafted in for his first international start at short notice when star full-back Stuart Hogg pulled out in the warm-up.
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McGuigan’s first score was an opportunist one, as he booted a loose ball downfield from 40 metres before twice kicking on again and touching down, and he came close to claiming a second in the opening period as Scotland continued to attack with flair.
Australia’s initial response was strong, Kuridrani first touching down from a Foley grubber and then scoring again after the fly-half had collected his own kick down the left flank and offloaded out of a tackle superbly.
Yet the visitors’ good work was undone by Kepu’s needless charge on Watson, which led to the former being dismissed following a TMO review.
Although Price’s subsequent score was cancelled out by Kurtley Beale three minutes into the second half, Scotland were soon in total command as Australia’s under-manned defence was blown away.
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Sean Maitland, Jonny Gray, Huw Jones and McGuigan all went over in quick succession to thrill the vocal home support, with gaps in Australia’s defence alarmingly easy to find.
53 – @Scotlandteam have posted 53 points; 19 more than they have ever managed before against Australia. Dominant. pic.twitter.com/q0n8ci3l6A
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) November 25, 2017
Replacement Lopeti Timani claimed a consolation score for the Wallabies, his first at international level, but Scotland were far from finished, further tries from John Barclay and Stuart McInally rounding off a day to remember in Edinburgh.
