Scotland seek bounce-back against 'wounded' Australia in Nations Championship

Scotland aim to respond to last weekend's heavy defeat when they host Australia at Murrayfield on Sunday in the Nations Championship, with the Wallabies also arriving after a chastening loss. Both sides suffered big reversals last weekend — Scotland by New Zealand at Murrayfield and Australia by England at Twickenham — and hope for a rapid recovery.

The fixture has been framed as a clash between two erratic sides that can produce brilliant performances and equally serious lapses, and Scotland carry an added recent edge after beating Australia 27-13 in their previous Test in 2024. Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu, who was born and raised in Melbourne, has personal history with the Wallabies and says correcting a poor second-half display against the All Blacks is the main priority.

"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. "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."

Scrutiny in Australia following the Twickenham defeat has fallen heavily on Joseph Suaalii, with criticism captured by former England international Chris Ashton saying: "This Suaalii gamble, I dread to think how much he gets paid. He doesn't look like an international rugby union player to me." Suaalii started on the wing at Twickenham last weekend but will revert to the 13 jersey at Murrayfield, returning to midfield against Tuipulotu.

The two players have history from their meeting two years ago: "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. The words exchanged between the players in the aftermath were spicy as Suaalii left the pitch," the match report recalled.

Tuipulotu struck a conciliatory but wary tone about Suaalii, joking: "I know there's been a few things flying around this week about him. I wish they could have done that in another week." He added: "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. "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, leaving Scotland with a clear path: win against Australia and then Japan next week to secure a meaningful match on finals weekend in London. The report added: "Some precious top-level action in the bank ahead of next year's World Cup would be vital. A dead-rubber against a middling opponent, not so much."

"For us, it's a got-to-have-it game," Tuipulotu said. "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." Scotland face Australia on Sunday and then Japan next week as they attempt to keep their finals weekend hopes alive.