SCOTLAND loose forward Ryan Wilson believes the current side are capable of beating Australia for the first time in Sydney on Saturday.
The tourists have won only twice in Australia, and never in Sydney, but back-rower Wilson plans on changing that at the Allianz Stadium.
The Glasgow forward said: “Beating Australia over here, it is a big ask, but something this group aims to do.
“We want to push on and start winning these games.
“We are getting closer and closer and once you break through and start winning those games you get on a bit of a roll.
“We speak about momentum and we take a lot from that, and the momentum we gained when Vern (Cotter) was in charge in the Six Nations. That momentum has got to carry on.”
Wilson is happy to be playing at all. He damaged his shoulder in the RBS 6 Nations defeat to England at Twickenham, exacerbated it against Italy and, though he tried to play through the pain, managed only two more matches before he was forced to rest.
Nobody was more surprised than he was that he started last week against Italy. He had been picked on the bench, but, when John Hardie went down in the warm-up, he was shunted up into the starting team at only a few seconds’ notice.
“When you are on the bench you expect these things,” he said.
“It happened a few times at Glasgow Warriors last year. I was chuffed to bits to start the match, though I felt for Hards (Hardie) because it was another miss out on an opportunity for him. When you get the opportunity, you grab it.”
Wilson feels at home in the Scotland set-up, having played under the new coaches when they were in charge at Glasgow, and believes they have not really changed their style.
“Everything they did at Glasgow was at the highest level,” he said.
“Those two (head coach Gregor Townsend and forwards coach Dan McFarland) don’t miss a thing – they never did at Glasgow.
“I don’t think anything changes in the way they go about it. They were so detailed with the way they were, they are the same here. It is nice for the players to have that familiarity coming in.
“We (the Glasgow players in the squad) know a a lot of the stuff around the forwards and can take that in – the guys that don’t know it, have us, the players from Glasgow, who can lead that.”
It was nine weeks since Wilson had last played but, despite that, he lasted the whole 80 minutes in last Saturday’s 34-13 win over Italy in Singapore and felt he did more than enough to shake any rust out of his system to prepare himself to face Australia, where the back-row battle will be crucial.
“People talk a lot about their poachers and the breakdown, but they are a Super Rugby sort of team who play a lot of attacking rugby,” he said.
“Defence is going to be massive for us on the back of that. The attacking rugby we can play is up there with the best, we have seen that. We are looking to go out there and put in a good show.
“We have been watching a lot of the stuff they do this week and we know we can go out and combat that. They are a good team but so are we,” he added.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here