Preview: Scotland v Australia

What they said

Head coach Bryan Easson: “We haven’t faced Australia before so it’s going to be a different contest to last weekend.

“With a six-day turnaround, we’ve had a greater focus on analysis than usual and it’s been important that the players recover and reset ahead of this Saturday.

“It’s great to have Rachel McLachlan and Emma Orr available for selection again. Australia have an abrasive back-row and we know that Rachel brings physicality to her game, while Emma really impressed us throughout the Women’s Six Nations after making her debut earlier this year.

“It was excellent to see some travelling support here in Whangarei last weekend and I know that the support from back home has also been outstanding.”

The team

Stats

• This will be just the third meeting between Scotland and Australia in Test Rugby, both previous meetings took place at the Rugby World Cup with the Wallaroos running out victorious on both occasions.
• Scotland made the most tackles of any nation in the opening round of this year’s Rugby World Cup (192), while Australia made the third most tackles (163); only three teams recorded a better tackle success rate than Scotland in the first round of fixtures (90%, behind Wales, New Zealand and Japan).
• Australia were shown two yellow cards against New Zealand, the joint most of any team in their opening match of the World Cup (also Wales); meanwhile Scotland conceded just seven penalties, the joint fewest in the opening round (also New Zealand).
• Scotland were one of just three teams to record a 100% scrum success rate in the opening round of this year’s Rugby World Cup (9/9, also Canada and England), while Scotland and Australia were two of just three teams not to concede a scrum penalty last time out (also England).
• Scotland’s Rachel Malcolm made the joint most tackles of any player in the opening round of the 2021 Rugby World Cup (24, level with Wales’ Alex Callender), while her teammate Jade Konkel-Roberts made the second most carries of any player (19, behind Canada’s Sophie de Goede – 24).
• Scotland second row Sarah Bonar won four jackal turnovers in the opening round of the tournament, no other player won more than two turnovers in that fashion in Round 1 of this year’s Rugby World Cup.