- Townsend hopes to end Autumn Series on a positive note at Murrayfield
- The Australians are in top form after recently beating England and Wales.
Gregor Townsend believes it is vital Scotland beat Australia at Murrayfield tomorrow to boost confidence ahead of next year’s Six Nations.
The Scots will face a rejuvenated Wallabies side who have beaten England and Wales in successive weeks over the past fortnight.
Meanwhile, Townsend’s men picked up wins against Fiji and Portugal but lost to world champions South Africa in what has been a fragmented campaign so far.
This came after a poor Six Nations earlier this year, in which they won just two games, before a summer tour in which they faced minnows such as the United States, Canada, Chile and Uruguay.
Townsend admitted last week that a successful autumn campaign now depends on victory over the Aussies in the series finale. Scotland’s head coach has stressed the importance of finishing the year on a high and securing a much-needed confidence boost ahead of the Six Nations which begins in February.
“If we win it will give us a big boost going into the Six Nations because we will be playing against a quality team,” Townsend said.
Scotland manager Gregor Townsend is determined to finish the Autumn Series on a high
Duhan van der Merwe scored during a comfortable victory over Fiji to open the campaign.
Australia arrive at Murrayfield in good form after their recent victories over Wales and England
“I think it will be frustrating if we don’t put together a performance that we’ve been working towards, if we don’t at least match South Africa’s performance in the way we played that night.
‘So that’s what we’re moving towards. We train for a reason. We train to improve. We train to find a way to win the weekend and that is our goal. It is the last game of the year for us as coaches and players.
“We know there will be sell-outs and we are up against a team that is fit but also plays good rugby.
‘We consider it a big challenge for us, but we are looking forward to it. “We want to finish the year as strong as possible.”
Townsend has welcomed back all his best players after fielding a largely second-string team in the rout of Portugal last weekend. He insisted that Tom Jordan could not have done more to justify the selection, instead opting for Blair Kinghorn’s greater experience at full-back.
He said: ‘Tom has been exceptional for us and he really couldn’t have done more. But Blair has played a lot more and has that opportunity because of how he has been playing for us and for Toulouse.
‘It’s Blair’s shirt now as he won it before. He has to give what he is capable of and that is what we are looking forward to on Sunday.
“Being selected ahead of Thomas Ramos at full-back shows what the Toulouse coaches think of Blair, and what he must have been doing in training to have that confidence in him.
Matt Fagerson will make his 50th cap for Scotland when he takes the field this weekend.
“They’ve been very consistent in the way they play. They play a game that probably suits Blair’s strengths as well.
Elsewhere, Matt Fagerson will play his 50th game in the Scotland back row at number 8, with former captain Jamie Ritchie also returning to the team.
Facing an Australian team that has found new life under Joe Schmidt, Townsend expects it to be a fluid and entertaining encounter between two teams that are at their best when they are on the front foot.
He added: “Australia will have a lot of confidence by beating England and Wales.
“We hope it will be an open match, but we know that we will have to give our best level of performance to get the result we want.”