Australia 35 Scotland 15

If the crowd at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne came looking for a massacre, they would have left still thirsty for blood.  Australia beat Scotland 35-15, but the score does not reflect the determination of the tourists who asked some difficult questions of their hosts.

The injury-ravaged Scottish tourists were given exceedingly slim odds to get a result out here -- but their perseverance, temperance and outstanding forwards saw them go to the break only one point adrift.

Australia -- clearly ruffled by the manful Scots -- were outplayed at the set-piece and had immense difficultly reining in the Scottish raids around the fringes.

But thankfully for the partisan crowd, the Wallabies are blessed with a set of fine backs, and they located Scotland's jugular in the second half with some scything breaks orchestrated by skipper George Gregan.

Australia opened the scoring with Joe Roff slotting two penalties within the first nine minutes of play, and Scotland's goose looked well and truly cooked when centre Matt Giteau crossed for a well-worked try after 16 minutes.

But the tourists fought back, defending stoutly and surging up field with several impressive driving mauls to get within sight of the Australian posts -- and there they remained for the reminder of the half.

Under pressure, the Wallabies conceded four penalties -- all of which were converted by Scotland's Australian-born fly-half Dan Parks to leave the scores poised at 13-12 at the interval.

Australia hit back early in the second period when Tuqiri breached the Scottish defence after slick approach work, but Parks narrowed the deficit once again with another fine penalty.

Joe Roff then became only the fifth Australian to surpass 200 Test points with a penalty as the Wallabies superiority with ball in hand began to show.

Tuqiri dotted down his second try of the evening in the 63 minutes to leave the Scots 13 points adrift, and when Wendell Sailor plucking a poor Simon Webster kick out of the air to stroll home unopposed it was all over the tourists.

Despite the result, Scotland coach Matt Williams should allow his men a night on the beers.

After a doom-laden start to this tour, the positive approach they took into this game was highly admirable, and they were a number of pluses.

Fullback Hugo Southwell had an impressive debut, and their scrum and line-out work was immaculate -- and when they got near the Australian posts they came away with points.

Unfortunately, they still seem unable sustain the attack -- they put in all the good work, but fail to put the cherry on the top.  Should they learn to hold their nerve -- and find a game-breaking midfielder -- Scotland could soon win their place back at rugby's top table.

Man of the Match:  The Scottish pack showed grit, and Wallaby Clyde Rathbone had an exciting debut -- but the man of the moment was George Gregan who got his side moving with some shrewd distribution that was peppered with trademark reverse flicks.  Beautiful stuff!

Moment of the Match:  Scotland spent the day toiling upfield, only to self-destruct within sight of the line, allowing the Australians to counter from depth.  No where was this more painfully obvious than Australia's first try, when Gregan seized on a turn-over and send his men right down the middle of the park.

Villain of the Match:  There was a good old fashioned 30-man squabble in the second-half, and groundsmen probably deserve a kicking for a pitch that resemble the floor of a sports hall.  But this award goes to Australian coach Eddie Jones for his unsporting remarks about Scotland fly-half Dan Parks prior to the game.  Parks responded with a 100 percent kicking display.  If that's a bad player, we'd love to see a good one!

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Alastair Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Radike Samo, 7 George Smith, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Wendell Sailor, 12 Matt Giteau, 13 Clyde Rathbone, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 15 Joe Roff
Reserves:  Matthew Burke, Chris Latham, Jeremy Paul, Matt Dunning, Daniel Vickerman, Phil Waugh, Morgan Turinui

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray (c), 6 Donnie Macfadyen, 7 Jason White, 8 Allister Hogg, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Daniel Parks, 11 Simon Webster, 12 Andrew Henderson, 13 Ben Hinshelwood, 14 Sean Lamont, 15 Hugo Southwell
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Iain Fullarton, Jon Petrie, Gordon Ross, Craig Smith, Graeme Morrison, Stephen Scott

Attendance:  38222
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Sailor W.J. 1, Giteau M.J. 1, Tuqiri L.D. 2
Conv:  Roff J.W.C. 2, Burke M.C. 1
Pen K.:  Roff J.W.C. 3

Scotland
Pen K.:  Parks D.A. 5