Scotland’s replacement hooker Ewan Ashman scored a try on his debut as they won the forward contest to defeat Australia 15-13 in a feisty autumn international clash at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Loose-forward Hamish Watson also crossed for a try, and fly-half Finn Russell slotted one penalty and a conversion as the Scots kept up their winning run against Australia with a third successive victory.
Australia, who were beaten at the breakdown and in the scrum, managed a single try through loose-forward Rob Leota as prop Allan Alaalatoa also received a contested yellow card.
Russell landed the winning penalty after 69 minutes as the visitors were penalised at the scrum yet again, much to the delight of the home fans.
“We had to dig deep. Australia are a class side, the in-form team in world rugby, so we knew we’d have to work really hard,” man of the match Watson said at the post-game presentation.
“Something special is building here. It was a nervy last 10 minutes on the bench, but the fans got us through.
“To have 67,000 back at Murrayfield is absolutely amazing. We’ve waited a long time for this, a really special day.”
Scotland lost injured hooker George Turner after 11 minutes, providing his replacement Ashman with almost a full game.
After a frenetic opening in which both sides got into their opponent’s 22 but came away empty-handed, Scotland grabbed the first points with a well-worked try by Watson from a five-metre attacking line-out.
Australia expected the driving maul, but the ball was transferred quickly to lock Grant Gilchrist, who was pushed almost unopposed towards the line by two team mates and Watson was able to finish the move.
There was a moment of controversy when Australia thought they had scored in reply as captain Michael Hooper crossed over, but Alaalatoa was adjudged to have connected with the head of Scotland’s Matt Fagerson as he tried to clean out the ruck.
Television Match Official Marius Jonker was convinced there was foul play, much to the dismay of Hooper.
“You can’t be serious, I can’t believe that. He didn’t do anything,” Hooper told French referee Romain Poite, who was officiating in his final test.
Alaalatoa was sent to the sin-bin as the home side led 7-3 at half-time.
Leota barged his way over to score a try for Australia as he ran an excellent line from scrumhalf Nic White’s pass as the visitors moved into the lead for the first time.
But the 21-year-old Ashman’s dream debut was capped with a superb score in the corner as he contorted his body to dot the ball down under pressure from the Wallabies defence.
Australia regained the advantage when O’Connor landed a penalty after the home side were adjudged to have infringed at the breakdown.
But the visitors’ problems at the scrum throughout the game cost them again as Russell was able to edge the Scots ahead with a penalty when Alaalatoa lost his bind.