The absence of Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi could be the difference between Australia winning and losing against Scotland at Murrayfield on Monday (AEDT).
That’s the view of Australian-born former Scotland international Dan Parks. The fly-half, who played 67 times for Scotland between 2004 and 2012, will join Stan Sport’s live and ad-free Test coverage from Edinburgh.
“With Quade not playing, and Kerevi, that could be quite telling,” Parks says.
“The big one is Kerevi. With him missing, I see that as a big disadvantage for Australia and I’m sure Scotland will have a few things up their sleeve to make the contest interesting.
“It was the 10 and 12 who were really lighting things up for Australia and being really settling influences on the whole squad so now that they’re not there I think Scotland would almost consider themselves favourites.”
Watch the Scotland vs Australia rugby clash on Stan Sport – the home of the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks spring tours. Start your seven day free trial here!
Cooper and Kerevi, along with Sean McMahon, elected not to tour, preferring to stay with their clubs in Japan.
Scotland ran in 10 tries in beating Tonga 60-14 last weekend including four to Kyle Steyn in his first Test start. He became the first Scot to score four tries in a Test at Murrayfield.
The Scotland 23 on the weekend included eight new caps because coach Gregor Townsend could only choose home-based players. This time he has a full squad of England and France based players to choose from. It’s a formidable line-up with the likes of British and Irish Lions Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg, Chris Harris and Duhan van der Merwe available.
Parks says Scotland has depth and belief he’s rarely seen before.
READ MORE: Turinui shares epic Melbourne Cup story from 2003
READ MORE: Brutal Jones methods revealed in newspaper report
READ MORE: Notorious pitch invader joins All Blacks for anthem
“They’ve been building over the last couple of years and in the Six Nations this year there was a lot of belief in the group that they could actually win it which I think is something Scotland hasn’t always really believed.
“They were extremely unlucky not to go undefeated in the Six Nations. They should have beaten Wales. They were in complete control of that game and ended up losing by a point. And they only lost by three points to Ireland. They won all their other games. I think they’re in a pretty good place.”
You can see Gregor Townsend’s stamp on this team. He played 82 times for Scotland and took over as coach in 2017 – that was the last time the Wallabies played Scotland at Murrayfield. A disastrous 53-22 record-breaking loss for Australia.
The style of rugby Scotland play now can be thrilling to watch.
“That’s Gregor. He likes to move the ball. He played a very expansive game himself. His mates on Sydney’s northern beaches will remember that from his time at the Rats. He’s got a real flamboyant way about him and the team responds well to it,” Parks says.
“They love running the ball from deep. You see that with Finn Russell. He’s a freak of a player. The style they’re playing is exciting but sometimes it can get them into some trouble because they play a lot of ball in their half at times.”
Parks qualified for Scotland courtesy of his maternal grandfather. It’s a regulation that’s served the Scots well over a number of years.
“On the weekend they had Sione Tuipolotu playing, who Australian fans will know from his time at the Rebels. He was a similar situation to me, I think his grandmother was Scottish. He’s only been in Glasgow for a couple of months and he finds himself in a Scotland jersey. That’s another way of building depth,” Parks says.
Scotland’s ability to identify and attract eligible players from around the world is second to none. Six of their 10 tries against Tonga were scored by South African-born players.
Last week saw fans in the stands at Murrayfield for the first time in 20 months and if the weather holds in Edinburgh (a big ‘if’ with cloud forecast and a top of 10 degrees) this Test match will be special.
“There was excitement, there was energy… and it’ll be even better this week. It’ll be absolutely immense. And they will know Scotland’s had success against Australia in recent times. If the weather is good it’ll be really open rugby in front of a big crowd. It’ll be a huge spectacle.
“Scotland will be feeling good, and that mixture of experience and class coming back will make them difficult to beat.”
Scotland and Australia is live and ad-free on Stan Sport from 12.45am Monday AEDT.