BRISBANE, Australia, 9 November 2003 — The Wallabies overcame another sloppy opening to wear down Scotland 33-16 at Lang Park here yesterday and set up a dream Rugby World Cup semifinal with trans-Tasman adversaries New Zealand in Sydney next weekend.
Australia labored to put away the one-dimensional Scots until the final 25 minutes with coach Eddie Jones clearing his replacements’ bench and saving skipper George Gregan and established stars, Stephen Larkham, George Smith and Mat Rogers.
The Wallabies grew in confidence as Scotland succumbed to the tempo and finished three tries to one winners. Elton Flatley scored 18 points from four penalties and three conversions.
“We can certainly play better, but it was a very tough first half, 9-all, and we came out in the second half and put the game to bed pretty easily and were able to make a number of changes off our bench by the 55th minute mark so we’re where we need to be,” said Jones.
“Scotland were always going to come out hard in the first 40 minutes, we just needed to absorb that pressure and we knew that if we kept the pressure on in the second half the errors and opportunities would come.
Scotland have not beaten Australia in Australia for 21 years and the Wallabies have won 13 of their 20 Test encounters.
Australia’s win was marred by a possible serious ankle injury to replacement flyhalf Matt Giteau, who limped off after playing only20 minutes as a replacement for Larkham. Scotland coach Ian McGeechan praised his side for what he said had been “a tremendous display.”
“We needed a few more points on the board in the first half and we are a bit disappointed in not making the semifinal.”
The Wallabies’ old problems emerged in a mistake-riddled opening half with fullback Rogers putting down a good pass after the impressive Lote Tuqiri had speared through an opening inside Scotland’s quarter after 15 minutes. Both teams exchanged penalty kicks in the opening period and the Wallabies looked dangerous but continual handling errors let them down.
Flatley kicked Australia ahead 6-3, but Scotland looked badly done by on the half-hour when New Zealand referee Steve Walsh stopped play and cautioned Sailor for lashing out at Australian-raised Scottish lock Nathan Hines and did not allow advantage to the Scots.
Gregor Townsend kicked to Sailor’s open wing and winger Kenny Logan dashed through to collect the ball, but the play was called back with Walsh warning Sailor and giving Scotland a penalty.
Paterson landed his second penalty in the 33rd minute after prop Bill Young was penalized for obstruction in a move, which put Rogers into the clear from halfway.
Flatley kicked his third penalty for 9-6 when Andrew Henderson tackled Mortlock without the ball, but Paterson leveled with a spectacular 48-meter drop goal.
The Australians’ elusive try finally came five minutes after the interval when Phil Waugh won a turnover leading to Mortlock racing 45 meters to score with an extravagant swan dive.
Flatley converted for 16-9 to great relief around the stadium, with home fans breaking into singing ‘Waltzing Matilda.’
Flatley edged the Wallabies out to a 10-point buffer with a 53rd-minute penalty as Australia began to take charge.
Waugh pilfered a loose ball and took off and from the next phase the ball was swung out to Tuqiri, who weaved back toward the posts before Gregan kicked ahead and scored Australia’s second try on 59 minutes.
