Thats a setback Wallabies winning streak over as Scotland register 15-13 victory

By Tom DecentUpdated November 8, 2021 â€" 6.24amfirst published at 3.57am

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says Australia’s accuracy and discipline simply weren’t up to scratch in a 15-13 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield that ended the team’s five-game winning streak.

Scotland made it three straight victories over the Wallabies for the first time since 1982 in a match where the men in gold were denied points on multiple occasions through poor decision-making.

Ewan Ashman scores for Scotland.Credit:AP

A yellow card to Allan Alaalatoa in the 37th minute for a careless high shot denied Michael Hooper a five-pointer, while Hunter Paisami might want to avoid Rennie for a few days after being penalised for a late tackle moments before Tom Wright looked to have scored.

Australia led 10-7 in the 59th minute before replacement Scottish hooker Ewan Ashman put the home side ahead thanks to a fantastic diving finish on the left wing.

James O’Connor got Australia back in the lead with a penalty before Finn Russell wrestled back the lead with 11 minutes to go in a stop-start match.

A tense final period ensued, but the Wallabies were unable to make it six wins on the trot heading into next weekend’s huge match against England.

“We’re incredibly disappointed,” Rennie said. “It was a tough game because we just struggled to get things going. We got penalised a bit in possession when we thought we had them under pressure. We struggled to get our game going in the last 20 as well. They did a pretty good job of defending the maul. We’ve got to take it on the chin. We’ve got to be better [with our] discipline and be more accurate.

“We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we’d like to. We’ve got to be able to build pressure for longer.

“We’ve got more in us. We certainly need to be a lot better and we need to be a lot better against England.”

Dejected Wallabies: Len Ikitau and Hunter Paisami at Murrayfield.Credit:AP

Australia’s frustrations boiled over just before half-time when Hooper’s try under the sticks was taken away because of Alaalatoa’s cleanout just prior.

Referee Romain Poite and the TMO believed Alaalatoa made contact with Matt Fagerson’s head. Although it was a glancing blow, there was contact and the try did not stand.

Former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said on Stan Sport it was “poor tackle technique” from Alaalatoa, while All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens described the incident as “clumsy and inaccurate”.

However, Hooper was livid and a rare outburst of his was picked up on the field.

Allan Alaalatoa watches from the sin bin.Credit:Getty Images

“You can’t be serious,” Hooper was heard telling Poite. “I can’t believe that. That is a weak decision. He didn’t do anything.”

Rennie felt it was a harsh call.

“I’m not one to have a crack at referees around decisions but it was a pretty tough decision against us,” Rennie said.

Australia only trailed 7-3 at the break, but things went from back to worse when Jordan Petaia left the field just before half-time with a hamstring injury.

The Wallabies now have three fullback options â€" Tom Banks, Reece Hodge and Petaia â€" sitting on the sidelines, with Rennie confirming the latter is highly unlikely to face England at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).

Petaia’s devastation at suffering another injury was in contrast to Izaia Perese’s delight as he ran onto the field for a Test debut years in the making.

There was more drama for the Wallabies when Taniela Tupou was concussed in the 44th minute following a sickening head clash.

With Alaalatoa still off the field, prop James Slipper was forced to shift to the tight-head side.

Duhan van der Merwe makes a break for Scotland. Credit:Getty

Alaalatoa was forced off in the 55th minute with a head knock too, but returned nine minutes later. It would have been a major sigh of relief for Rennie given Tupou’s earlier knock.

The Wallabies had major scrum issues that will need addressing before the England fixture. Rennie didn’t agree with some calls.

“I thought it was a bit of a mess,” said Rennie of the scrums. “We’ll [give] feedback directly to the referees but it’s a tough area to adjudicate. We certainly didn’t agree with a number of the decisions.

O’Connor, who missed an early penalty well to the right, didn’t have a huge impact on the game in his first outing at No.10 this year for Australia. Neither did Kurtley Beale off the bench, in his first match for Australia since the 2019 World Cup.

Scotland had opportunities to take three points in the first half but rolled the dice in search of a try and were rewarded in the 22nd minute when Hamish Watson dived over from a beautifully executed rolling maul.

Hooper was brilliant at defensive breakdowns, winning a number of critical penalties for his team, but it was in vain.

The Wallabies thought they had their first try of the afternoon down the left edge when Wright crossed the line, but Paisami was penalised for tackling Russell beyond the breakdown.

In the 52nd minute, however, Paisami pulled off a brilliant pressure-relieving breakdown penalty after Wright was penalised for a needless push-and-shove with Stuart Hogg.

The Wallabies searched for a match-winning try, but lacked cohesion in a tense tussle against a Scotland side playing with passion in front of 67,000 fans at Murrayfield.

Australia face another difficult prospect against England, who they have not beaten since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

“That’s a setback today,” Hooper said. “The motivation was about going well today and continuing the momentum we’ve built in the year. The fire in the belly hasn’t extinguished at all. After that, it’s raised.”

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Watch every match of the Wallabies, All Blacks & Springboks Spring Tours on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Continues this weekend featuring Scotland v South Africa (Saturday, 11:50pm AEDT), Ireland v New Zealand (Sunday, 2:05am AEDT) and England v Australia (Sunday, 4:00am AEDT).

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