We can beat Australia too: Murray

Samoa 3 Scotland 38

Scotland captain Scott Murray believes his players can atone for last year’s World Cup quarter-final defeat with an historic victory over Australia next weekend.

After five failed attempts, Matt Williams was last night celebrating his first Test victory as coach of a Scotland side who finally brought substance to all the rhetoric, all the promises that had seemed so empty during the the RBS 6 Nations wooden spoon campaign.

Scotland’s defence was not only impervious to the hulking brute force of the Samoan forwards but it was disciplined too. Led by a towering performance from Murray, Scotland stuck vehemently to the game plan.

They punched it through the forwards in the first 20 minutes, sapped the strength of the Samoans and then stung them with five tries in the final 43 minutes for Scotland’s first victory in the southern hemisphere, outside of a World Cup, since 1982.

“Some of the defence was absolutely brilliant, throwing themselves at rucks, putting everything into it. I was very proud of the boys. Some of these Samoan guys are huge and our boys launched themselves. And it was controlled,” enthused Murray.

“It is good to get a win under the belt. We hope this win will signal better things to come, give a bit of confidence to the guys.

“Of course it will be difficult against the Wallabies, we are not unrealistic. We have to raise our standards in everything we do.

“But I think we have got the team that can do it if we play our systems. If we can show the kind of commitment we showed against Samoa and a bit more, there is every chance we can beat Australia.”

It was against the Wallabies that Scotland secured that victory in 1982 and despite yesterday’s performance, a repeat 22 years later in either Melbourne next Sunday or Sydney the week after would seem unlikely.

But through the turmoils of the wooden spoon campaign, Scotland have fostered a belief in the systems that Williams is trying to implement.

They remained patient early and only took the lead after 27 minutes when Chris Paterson – who was later substituted with a triple fracture of the cheek - landed the second of three penalties.

But that switch in ambition after 20 minutes was telling and once Gordon Ross feinted a pass and darted through for Scotland’s first try just before the break, Samoa were on the ropes.

“I think having to defend so much early on cost us the match because we felt tired and that told in the second half,” said Samoan captain Semo Sititi.

From 11-3 at half-time, Ben Hinshelwood and Ally Hogg scored inside 11 minutes of the restart to earn Scotland a comfortable 24-3 lead.

They then had to dig in and keep the weary but spirited Samoans at bay with what Murray described as “brilliant, immaculate defence” before Simon Webster and Mike Blair rounded off the night’s entertainment.

Williams did not feel relieved or vindicated by the result. The feeling was “one of faith repaid”.

Murray explained more.

“One of our strengths was that we actually played the way we trained,” he said.

"Before, under pressure, we would revert to the way we used to play. Something we have been doing is getting one area right and messing up another. I thought we performed in every area last night.

“We knew the first 20 minutes would be hell. We kept it in the forwards and then started shifting it wide. That was the gameplan and it worked really well.”

The belief now is that Scotland must travel back to Australia and do to the Wallabies what has been done unto them on all 11 occasions since Brisbane, 1982.

“Where these guys are going, that is just a step. We can’t say we are off and running,” said Williams.

“It was a great win but the process goes on. We still won’t see the best of this side until after the next off-season. The fact we can pick up wins and get performances like that along the way is very good for confidence.

“We need to go to Melbourne in nine days and put in another incredible performance and work on the same things. It is a really positive step for the team.”