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Scotland devastated again as Australia complete late comeback
By AAP
Australia have come from behind to edge Scotland 14-12 in their Rugby World Cup pool match to keep finals action in sight.
The Wallaroos' hopes of the reaching the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals remain alive after they scrapped their way to a heart-stopping 14-12 victory over Scotland.
The Australians were on shaky ground on Saturday at Whangarei, only hitting the lead in the 72nd minute after reserve hooker Ashley Marsters dragged Scottish defenders over the line.
Fullback Lori Cramer then converted the try to go ahead 14-12.
But the Wallaroos faced a nervous final five minutes when Marsters was sent off for a high tackle.
She was replaced by starting hooker Adiana Talakai, but she was also sent off for a high shot with the offence escalated to a red card after she had already had a yellow card in the first half.
The Scots kept the ball in play before Australia were able to force a penalty at the breakdown in the 83rd minute to secure the win.
Having opened their campaign with a defeat against hosts New Zealand, and with the top two advancing to the quarter-finals, the Wallaroos desperately needed the victory over their 10th-ranked opponents.
Unlike their match against the Black Ferns, where they raced to a 17-0 lead before being overhauled, the Australians struggled to find tries.
They were unable to take advantage of the efforts of barnstorming No.8 Grace Hamilton and hardworking props Eva Karpani and Liz Patu.
With a strong wind at their backs, the Wallaroos finally got across the line in the 58th minute when teenage winger Bienne Terita scored her third try of the tournament after a build-up of 12 phases.
That closed the gap to 12-7 after Scotland had earlier mauled the ball, with Lana Skeldon collecting the spoils in the eighth minute.
They were also awarded a penalty try in the 26th minute with Talakai also yellow-carded for illegally trying to collapse their maul after repeated team infringements.
Down 12-0 at halftime, the Wallaroos had to dig deep but with coach Jay Tregonning emptying his bench they wore down the steely Scots' defence.
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I like Andy’s critical approach to all hot issues especially when it comes to the rugby big “bosses”. However, sorry Andy, I don’t support your “we shouldn’t be questioning the integrity of Karl Dickson or any other official”. May I ask why? They do have a lot of responsibility, but they are people like us with all their sins and weaknesses. We have to respect their decision during the games, but why they became untouchable afterwards and people cannot even criticize them and the ones, who does express their concerns, got punished for publicly analyzing their mistakes and asking questions. If they believe they did right, there shouldn’t be a problem for any of the refs to answer these “questions” publicly. I don’t really remember such cases. However, I do remember how Craig Joubert shown his running skills in 2015 or Pascal Gauzere shined in Cardiff in 2021. I do believe that Rassie, as anybody else, had a full right to share his vision of Nic Berry’s performance the same year. I do not support the hate in any form especially in public one, but creating the cast of untouchable refs and rugby bosses is not for me. As for Karl, he had all means to question his appointment for the game and since I don’t now whether he did it, blaming just RFU wouldn’t be quite correct at this moment. I love the game of rugby and almost every time I watch it I don’t support any team, I just wanna see the good game and fair referring. Sorry, Karl. last Saturday you got my Craig Joubert”s award of the round. It is up to Karl to prove that I am wrong, not to Andy or RFU’s corporate bla-bla-bla. Something like that…
Go to commentswell remember the blues had a guy called jed rowlands for a season. remember scott took his coaching team with him give him time
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