Head coach Andy Robinson is convinced that the breakdown will be a key area as Scotland look to upset Australia.
"We need to create a bit of mayhem there," he said, with the Scots out to avoid an eighth straight defeat.
"We have to be really accurate inside our half, accurate defensively and accurate when we have got the ball.
"That means not getting turned over in our half. If we can do that, it puts us in a good position to put pressure on Australia."
The host city of Newcastle is forecast to experience a storm before Tuesday's kick-off and slippery conditions could aid the visitors, who lost a lot of turnover ball during a poor Six Nations campaign.
But Robinson believes the Scots' chances depend on their ability to stop Australia flanker and new captain David Pocock, and then put pressure on Wallaby scrum-half Will Genia.
"We have to contest the breakdown, that is why we are playing John Barclay at number eight," he explained.
"We have to put Australia under huge pressure in that area, we want to have a go at them, put pressure on Genia and slow Australia ball down. The only way to do that was playing Barclay and Ross Rennie together, who I think are our best two players over the ball.
"Obviously it is vital that Richie Gray and Ross Ford step up to the mark and carry the ball a lot.
"Ryan Grant is a good carrier too, a good footballer and we can bring Sean Lamont in off the wing while Matt Scott and Joe Ansbro can carry as well. We have got the carriers but they have to put a good shift in."
Glasgow loosehead prop Grant will be making his debut, while Edinburgh centre Scott starts an international for the first time.
The Australian line-up also features new faces, with full-back Luke Morahan, centres Mike Harris and Joe Tomane, flanker Dave Dennis and prop Dan Palmer all winning their first caps.
"They'll be hungry and will sense the opportunity, striking us first up on a limited preparation," said Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.
"A feature of the Scottish team under Andy Robinson is that they are very well organised. The Scottish teams of my experience have always been extremely physical in their approach, so they will be very direct and come right at us."
Of Scotland's approach, Robinson continued: "We have got to look at the set-piece. We have got to put the ball out of play and then look to put pressure on them. We need an accurate kicking game to do that - that has got to come first.
"Of course we have got to try to target their front five and get stuck into them.
"Ryan Grant is a very good scrummager. He got his position in the Glasgow team at the end of the season because he was scrummaging so well.
"On their side, James Slipper [Australia's loosehead] is a good player, but the young lad on the tighthead [Dan Palmer] is somebody that we have got to get some change out of."
Despite their recent record, Scotland are taking confidence from the fact that they defeated Australia last time the sides met and still have a core of players who were involved in that battling 9-8 win at Murrayfield in November 2009 .
"Probably the best moment of my rugby career," was how Richie Vernon, the flanker who starts on the Scotland bench, described it.
"The basis for that win was that we were really tight defensively and got stuck in. They had the chances but our scramble defence got us through.
"I feel that is going to be key for us again. If we can disrupt them at the breakdown, get our defence set and frustrate them as much as possible then we will blunt their attacking force.
"If we can keep them quiet for 40, 50 or maybe even 60 minutes then they will start to get frustrated and maybe make a few mistakes and start forcing stuff that isn't there."
Australia: L Morahan; D Ioane, A Fainga'a, M Harris, J Tomane; B Barnes, W Genia; J Slipper, S Moore, D Palmer, S Timani, N Sharpe, D Dennis, D Pocock (captain), S Higginbotham.
Replacements: S Fainga'a, B Alexander, R Simmons, M Hooper, N Phipps, P McCabe, A Ashley-Cooper.
Scotland: S Hogg; J Ansbro, N De Luca, M Scott, S Lamont; G Laidlaw, M Blair; R Grant, R Ford (captain), E Murray, A Kellock, R Gray, A Strokosch, R Rennie , J Barclay.
Replacements: S Lawson, J Welsh, T Ryder, R Vernon, C Cusiter, D Weir, T Brown.
Referee: J Peyper (South Africa).
No comments:
Post a Comment