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I’ll tell you what else you can do while waiting for kick off after you’ve sent me an email, you can have a read of some good stuff.
I’m excited about this game, are you? Tell me by emailing me, what else are you gonna do while you wait for kick off?
Teams
Gregor Townsend has addressed the the loss of Jack Dempsey through injury by bringing Jamie Ritchie in for now rare start in the back row, while Scott Cummings returns to lock after his one-match ban. The dazzling back three of Kinghorn, Graham and Van Der Merwe are reunited as Tom Jordan moves to the bench.
Joe Schmidt hands out another tour debut, this time to Harry Potter the former Leicester now Western Force winger, who will bring plenty of opportunities for lazy commentators to make endless hideously tortured magic related references to his play.
Impressive captain Harry Wilson returns to the starting XV, as does the so far incredible Joseph-Akuso Suaalii.
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 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: 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 (captain), 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
Preamble
Welcome to Murrayfield for what could be a day of surprises if the unseasonably mild forecast for today’s game is anything to go by.
Scotland disembark their bus in the midst of an odd run of Autumn matches. Handy wins vs teams they should win handily against and a fitfully sparky but ultimately losing performance in the face of the Springboks could have made it tricky to determine where they are as a team. But this is Gregor Townsend’s Scotland so it’s really more of the same for the team he’s built – they are a squad that plays occasional great games, rather than great players of the game.
This is why today, one off test it may be, is so important for the home side. They face an Australia team developing under Joe Schmidt to be a match for the Scots on the mercurial scale, while also collecting an impressive haul of wins on their end of season tour. A win today that keeps the newly rampaging green and gold at bay would reassert Scotland’s position as the best of what isn’t South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland or France and unlike his opposite number, Townsend cannot point to a developing team and gameplan while “taking the learnings”. There is no excuse for losing today; he and the fans know it.
Foreboding aside, this should be a cracker. These are two teams that love a run, offload and plenty other forms of joy/fury generating play. Expect a surprising amount of fun for a Sunday in November.
