Given the amount of talent and power available to both teams in their defensive line, sparks could fly when Scotland take on Australia at Murrayfield tomorrow afternoon.
In the language of the boxing pages, styles make fights.
It is certainly not difficult to imagine a scenario in which these two teams deliver a classic.
In the blue corner, Scotland have Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe.
In the green and gold corner, the Wallabies have their new superstar Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Andrew Kellaway and wizard Harry Potter making their debut.
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to be boring. Australia comes into this match having scored 13 tries (five against England and eight against Wales) in the last fortnight. They are red hot.
There is an expectation that this clash with Scotland could see both teams firing on all cylinders, providing box-office entertainment, as Gregor Townsend’s side look to finish the year on a high.
Especially with the midfield battle between Tuipulotu, Jones, Suaalii and Ikitau, Scottish coach Townsend sees potential for sparks to fly.
Scotland manager Gregor Townsend looks to close the autumn series with a win
Australia arrives at Murrayfield after impressive victories over England and Wales.
Australia’s Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii trains ahead of this weekend’s clash at Murrayfield
But Townsend also made it clear that his team will not simply stand back and admire the talents of Suaalii, the rugby league convert who has taken Test Rugby by storm since making his debut at Twickenham a fortnight ago.
Instead, the Scottish manager wants his team to target Suaalii as much as possible and put pressure on a player who is only 21 years old and very inexperienced at the top level.
“When you look at those centre-back combinations, you see players who have the ability to do more than one thing,” Townsend said. ‘Yes, it could be quite tasty.
‘There has been a lot of talk around Suaalii. His performance at Twickenham will give him a lot of confidence. It already looks world class. Ikitau too, he is a very good player.
‘Whether it’s direct takeaway like Sione and Ikitau can do, they also have downloads and creativity. And then the 13 (Jones and Suaalii) are running lines.
“Obviously, Suaalii’s height and his ability to offload provide an extra point of difference in his game. I am sure that the centre-backs will look for the ball as much as they can.
Huw Jones celebrates scoring against Fiji with Sione Tuipulotu
“There’s not a lot of tape to do with Suaalii, but obviously we’ve looked at it as much as we can. For us, can we push it?
“Because he’s only had 80 minutes, plus 20 minutes defending (from the bench against Wales), at test level in the Union. We saw more of his attacking threats in the game against England. Obviously we have to respect that and realize that he can There will be times when you take a break or escape.
“We need to do the best we can to stop that, but also make sure that in the next phase you are ready to start again if he has your back.”
Townsend has picked a set team for the final game of the Autumn Series, with former captain Jamie Ritchie in the back row in the absence of Jack Dempsey.
There were some suggestions that Townsend should move on from Van der Merwe, a point raised by former Scotland captain Andy Nicol on Mail Sport earlier this week.
Especially given the impact of Tom Jordan dropping to the bench, there was a feeling that a shake-up in the back three might have been on the cards.
But Townsend insisted that never entered his thinking as Van der Merwe, Graham and Blair Kinghorn started together for the first time since last year’s World Cup.
“They (the back three) played a lot of games together,” Townsend said. ‘Darcy missed a lot of rugby through injury but has recovered very well in recent weeks and at Murrayfield in particular.
The Scots followed Fiji’s victory with a loss to world champions South Africa.
‘So to have the three of them together, they know each other well. They played together in Edinburgh. Blair was in excellent form coming into this season and campaign.
“He had to play on the wing because we picked up injuries before the South Africa game, but it’s good to see him back at full-back and Darcy back again. “They’ve earned the right to play.
‘With Jamie, he was involved in both of our victories this year in the Six Nations. He has had to deal with not being the captain anymore and also with the increasing competition in the back row.
“But I think he was playing his best rugby at the end of the season with Edinburgh. He was showing his super strengths – he was in the top two to win Jackals turnovers in the URC.
“He’s also very good in the air and that came out in Edinburgh and it’s coming out more and more in Test rugby when they changed these laws.”
‘Over the last two or three weeks, the air battle is now more chaotic and more important than it was before this tournament.
“So we see Jamie in both areas, as well as his skills and experience, which can help those around him.”
Scotland have won three of their last four games against the Wallabies, but this will be the first time they have faced Joe Schmidt since he took charge.
Johnny Matthews impressed as his team went on a rampage against Portugal last weekend
Schmidt caused Scotland no end of pain during his time as Ireland head coach and Townsend sees some similarities with a possession-based approach that aims to deprive teams of the ball.
Asked about that and the fact that Scotland might need to defend without the ball for long periods, Townsend said: “Yes, and we have to do something about it.”
“We have to find ways to win the ball back. The best way is to win it back directly and through the tackle, but also be so strong in defense that they kick it back to you.
“You see clear signs of how Australia are playing that are very similar to Ireland (playing with Schmidt). An easier way to keep the ball is by playing tight against the scrum-half. They have some willing ball carriers who can do that .
“There will be times when they will go wide open and that will give us more opportunities.” We have to look for opportunities in each phase.
“Possession can lead to penalties and sometimes it can lead to frustration if you don’t have the ball. If you’re not disciplined in your defense, that becomes a lineup ball that you have to defend.
Or three points and the rival collapses. That strategy worked very well for Ireland. We have to divide the game.
Townsend has praised Joe Schmidt’s impact since taking over as Australia coach
‘I have real faith in our defense doing that. It’s just a different challenge for the defense this week.
“You could see how they were progressing even before those two wins against England and Wales. They had a very good victory against Argentina away from home.
“They had a lot of play against the All Blacks in particular and Joe Schmidt’s coaching was working.
‘A possession-based game, evolving to incorporate centers into the game as much as possible. And then in the last two weeks, they have been scoring a lot of points, which shows their attacking threats.
“It’s very similar to how he built a successful period with Leinster and Ireland in particular. There’s a lot of depth in Australian rugby. They’re confident now and the quality shows even more.”