Australia 19-24 Scotland: Tourists stun Wallabies in Sydney
Last Updated: 17/06/17 6:12pm
Scotland pulled off a stunning 24-19 win over Australia to move up to fourth in the world rankings.
A strong display defensively saw the visitors capitalise on the Wallabies' weaker areas, as Gregor Townsend's men held on to record their second consecutive win Down Under.
With the teams scoring three tries apiece in a breathless first half, a frantic finale saw the Wallabies coming close to snatching the victory when they were awarded a penalty seconds before the end.
But Scotland dominated at the breakdown to win a penalty of their own to secure a monumental victory having gone down by just one point in their previous two clashes.
The Scots had the best of the early exchanges and it wasn't long before they were in front, through full-back Greig Tonks' long-range penalty goal on three minutes.
Australia looked far from their best in possession and a poor pass from scrum-half Will Genia 12 minutes later was snapped up by inside-centre Duncan Taylor, who ran over from 30 metres.
The visitors' lead was strengthened further moments later when fly-half Finn Russell's conversion made it 10-0, but the Wallabies hit back shortly when Bernard Foley found Israel Folau with a huge gap out wide for the full-back to storm over.
But Australia were showing signs of weakness again when a mistake allowed Russell to chase Genia's clearing kick to score another try, restoring Scotland's lead to 10 points.
The Wallabies, though, replied in style with a stunning second try for Folau, who scored off Foley's pinpoint cross-field kick from the left wing.
The hosts began the second half with intent and hit the front when Genia burrowed over for a try from a ruck on Scotland's line after 57 minutes.
Scotland fought back with a neat try to Hamish Watson to make it two wins out of two for Townsend since taking over as head coach.
