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'The Wallaby way': Holloway confident Australia can compete with the best
By
Finn Morton
Flanker Jed Holloway is confident that Australia can compete with the best teams in the world if they play “the Wallaby way.”
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The Wallabies started their five-match spring tour with a hard-fought 16-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield, which came down to the final minute of the Test.
Scotland flyhalf Blair Kinghorn had a chance to win the Test for the hosts with a penalty, but he sent his attempt at goal wide left.
Scrumhalf Nic White then showcased his brilliant skill and rugby IQ to drop kick a ball into touch on the bounce, which brought an end to an epic match.
Holloway, who was in America when France toured Down Under July last year, said he was happy with the win but knows that the Wallabies have a “bigger mountain to climb” this weekend.
“We just need to be more clinical and focus on our game and what we provide and know if we can produce our best performance we can take it to them,” Holloway said during the week.
“We’ve showed that multiple times (in) that South African game, the All Blacks first Test we were right there.
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“We know if we play the Wallaby way, we can get really close to these guys if not beat them.
“They’re gonna be tough at home, they’re the second ranked team in the world for a reason.
“They’re big bodies and they’ll run hard and we need to front up and we need to get a good week of prep this week to do that.”
Scotland controlled 55 per cent of possession across the 80 minutes, and dominated the territory battle 58 to 42.
The hosts even scored more tries than the Wallabies, but the visitors finished the Test ahead on the stat that matters – the scoreboard.
All Blacks great Andrew Mehrtens has praised the Wallabies for showing “a bit of character” in their hard-fought 16-15 win over Scotland. #SCOvAUS https://t.co/vxwS9UGMAL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 31, 2022
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Australia’s never say die attitude kept them in the Test, even after Kinghorn helped Scotland to a 15-6 lead with 10 points in 11 minutes after the break.
The Wallabies appeared to be in some trouble when winger Duhan van der Merwe made a break down the left wing, before replacement Glen Young was controversially sin binned for a high clean-out.
That moment swung the moment back in the visitors favour, with skipper James Slipper scoring the Wallabies’ only try of the match shortly after.
Flyhalf Bernard Foley gave his side the lead inside the final 10 minutes with a penalty, while the rest was history.
Reflecting on the tense one-point win, Holloway said that the team is chasing “consistency” as they look to back up their win against World No. 2 France.
“We wanted to build pressure throughout set piece. For forward individually, maul, attack and (defence). Our maul defence was quite good.
“Our maul attack was better but we didn’t get any tries from that so it’s something that we really want to work on.
“Our scrum, we got some pay, especially on these European tours going against these European sides, that’s where they live in the set-piece battle.
“We’re building towards it, the key is for us is consistency and that’s been no secret over the last 10 weeks is after a win we need to back it up.
“That’s the main thing we’re chasing is to focus on the process, not so much the outcome.”
The Wallabies’ second game of their spring tour kicks off on Sunday morning (AEST) at Stade de France.
Australia will also play Tests against Italy, Ireland and Wales before tehri 2022 campaign ends.
