Scotland surge under Gregor Townsend with their most exciting side since 1999

This current Scotland team have won nothing yet, but on this form they will at least be contenders for next year’s Six Nations titleScotland’s optimistic autumns have too often been followed by despondent springs in recent seasons but this time, surely, they can look forward to the Six Nations Championship with real self-belief. They may have been rusty, above all in defence, in their first outing this month against Samoa but the subsequent narrow defeat by New Zealand was a significant step up. And then came Saturday’s 53-24 triumph over Australia at Murrayfield: easily the Scots’ biggest win in the history of the fixture and their highest points total ever over Tier One opponents.There were mitigating circumstances for the Wallabies in this dispiriting end to their European tour: only one of the home team’s eight tries was scored before the sending-off of Sepoke Kepu late in the first half for recklessly clashing heads with Hamish Watson, and the game was not wholly over until the penultimate try five minutes from the end. But Scotland have struggled in the past against 14 men: this time, they exploited the numerical advantage with equal measures of intelligence and ruthlessness. Continue reading…
Via: Scotland surge under Gregor Townsend with their most exciting side since 1999