Two sides who are thrilling and perplexing in almost equal measure, Scotland versus Australia in the Nations Championship on Sunday could be described as the Battle of the Unpredictables.
These are two teams that when they are hot, they are very hot, but both have the capacity to fall so far below their ceiling they are left staring up at it from the floor.
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Both are coming off chastening defeats last weekend – the Wallabies taken apart by England at Twickenham, and Scotland taken to the cleaners by New Zealand at Murrayfield.
This is a fixture that stokes the fires of Scotland’s Australia-born captain Sione Tuipulotu, but making amends for that second-half no-show against the All Blacks is providing the primary motivation.
“It is always hard to watch the footage back after a defeat like that where we missed some big opportunities and let ourselves down in certain areas,” Tuipulotu said.
“As a group, we have confronted that and I’ve been very proud of the boys in terms of how they have rallied this week.
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“We know that Australia will also be a wounded team coming here after what happened against England at Twickenham.
“I think I will always have that little bit of fire bubbling away whenever I play against the Wallabies.
“I’ve done it a few times now, both with Scotland and also with the Lions. But there’s a bigger picture than just looking at me and my history with Australia.
“Our minds are firmly set on bouncing back after last week. That performance wasn’t good enough. We know that and we want to put that right.”
Tuipulotu wary of Suaalii response
In the wake of the Wallabies’ humbling at Twickenham, much of the criticism was aimed at Joseph Suaalii. Much like with Finn Russell and Scotland, Suaalii is the superstar that, more than any other player, carries the hopes of his nation.
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When things go wrong, as they did against England, the 23-year-old rugby league convert tends to be the first in the firing line.
“This Suaalii gamble, I dread to think how much he gets paid. He doesn’t look like an international rugby union player to me,” said the former England international Chris Ashton, who himself made the switch from league to union.
Having started on the wing at Twickenham last weekend, Suaalii reverts to the 13 jersey at Murrayfield, throwing him back into the midfield maelstrom against Tuipulotu.
The pair had a memorable collision when the sides met two years ago, Suaalii nailing Tuipulotu with a shuddering hit of such force that the man dishing out the crunching tackle was himself invalided out of the game.
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The words exchanged between the players in the aftermath were spicy as Suaalii left the pitch, but Tuipilotu has a huge respect for the threat he poses on Sunday, and thinks the flak flying his way will serve only to light a fire to ram the critics’ words back down their throats.
“I know there’s been a few things flying around this week about him. I wish they could have done that in another week,” Tuipulotu joked.
“My brother [Mosese, now with Edinburgh] was with him at the Waratahs and he only had good things to say about him to be honest.
“I know how much of a talented athlete he is and there’s only so much you can poke someone before they respond.
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“We are wary of the bounce back and we’re certainly not delusional enough to think that these kind of players won’t play well against us.
“I expect the very best version of Joseph Suaalii in this game and I’m excited to go up against him again.”
France’s epic victory over world champions South Africa in Paris on Friday all but ended Scottish hopes of finishing first in the northern hemisphere table.
All they can do now is deliver wins over Australia and then Japan next week to ensure they have a meaningful game against one of the southern hemisphere heavyweights on finals weekend in London.
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Some precious top-level action in the bank ahead of next year’s World Cup would be most welcome. A dead-rubber against a middling opponent, not so much.
“For us, it’s a got-to-have-it game,” said Tuipulotu. “That’s the mood in the camp. It’s such a different feeling around the place when you’ve either won or lost.
“We know we need to win this game. We want to get that positive feeling back around the camp again.
“We want to get our Nations Championship back on track again and give ourselves a big game going into that finals weekend.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
