Scotland will end the 2024 season by taking on a steadily improving Australia in their final Autumn Nations Series match at Murrayfield on Sunday afternoon.
The Wallabies, on the other hand, have one more match for the year after this one, and that will come next week when they travel to Dublin to face Ireland.
Match preview
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Scotland kicked off the 2024 rugby season in the best way possible by winning the Calcutta Cup, but the rest of their Six Nations campaign was largely disappointing as they only managed fourth place.
Unfortunately for the Scots, inconsistency has been a bit of a feature for them this year again, as on their day, they are capable of beating any team in the world, but they also have a tendency to lose games they should be doing better in.
Since the Six Nations, Gregor Townsend‘s side have played mostly tier two teams, including Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay in July, while this month they beat a Fiji side missing a host of their regulars before losing 32-15 to South Africa.
Last week, Scotland proved much too good for Portugal as they ran in nine tries after failing to cross the whitewash a week earlier, but this match will likely provide a better indication of what to expect from the nation at next year’s clash of the Northern Hemisphere heavyweights.
The last time the hosts faced this opponent was back in October 2022 when they were pipped by a single point, while the previous encounter saw them edge the Wallabies by two points here in Edinburgh.
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Meanwhile, after a challenging year, Australia are finishing 2024 strongly, highlighted by last weekend’s dominant 50-22 victory over Wales in Cardiff, where they scored eight tries, including hat-tricks from Matt Faessler and Tom Wright.
A week earlier, the Wallabies entered their clash with England at Twickenham Stadium as clear underdogs, but they upset the odds, securing a 42-37 victory with a late try from Max Jorgensen.
Those results were widely unexpected from the side following a dismal Rugby Championship campaign, where they received the Wooden Spoon and suffered a record-breaking defeat to Argentina.
Fair to say then, this side is a very difficult one to read at the moment, but there is no denying, based on their performances this month, that they are starting to find their new identity under Joe Schmidt.
Still, the men from Down Under have plenty of work to do to claw their way back up the world rankings, and they have experienced a few setbacks in their preparations for this match, the most notable being frozen pitches that have limited their training over the week.
Scotland form (all competitions):
Australia form (all competitions):
Team News
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Townsend has opted for a very similar lineup to the one that he sent out against the Springboks a couple of weeks ago, with Matt Fagerson set to resume duty at number eight and in line for his 50th Test cap.
Pierre Schoeman and Zander Fagerson retain their spots as Scotland’s starting props, with Ewan Ashman at hooker, while Scott Cummings returns from suspension to join Grant Gilchrist in the second row following his red card against South Africa.
Schmidt, meanwhile, has made six changes to the side that hammered Wales last week, with Western Force winger Harry Potter set to become the 18th Wallabies debutant in 2024.
Elsewhere, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii steps into the starting lineup at outside centre for his third Test cap, replacing the suspended Samu Kerevi, while Len Ikitau transitions to the number 12 jersey for this weekend’s clash.
Scotland starting lineup: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 George Horne, 22 Tom Jordan, 23 Kyle Rowe
Australia starting lineup: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Akuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Jeremy Williams, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
We say: Scotland 27-24 Australia
The last couple of matches between these sides have been cliffhangers and we are expecting the same here, with both teams coming into the encounter following commanding wins last week.
The Wallabies are gunning a historic Grand Slam finish to the year after beating England and Wales, but we feel that Scotland will deny them that honour by claiming the win in this one.
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