Unfortunately for the Scotland coach, the one area where there was a significant difference was in their patience and composure a few yards from the try line. Over-eagerness in attack prevented Scotland getting the rewards for much of their build-up play and the odd moment of panic in defence allowed the Wallabies to slip through.
“Basic errors within five metres of the Australia line cost us. We suffered a bit from white-line fever,” Willliams admitted. “We still need to work on small areas. There were some missed tackles at crucial times, particularly in the our own 22, and I am cross with losing a try in the last 90 seconds.
“It is a very disappointing outcome, but the team has come on leaps and bounds on this tour against a very good Australia team. We played very good rugby, both with ball in hand and in defence, against a very talented side. This team has made huge steps since the Six Nations.”
When Scotland arrived, the local press were insultingly debating whether this was the worst rugby team ever to arrive in their country. The talk was about matching or beating the 76-0 win over England six years ago and as recently as last week, Mark Ella was explaining to his readers why the Wallabies would demolish Scotland — though sensibly he did not commit himself to a scoreline.
“I think we proved that the difference between the big boys and where we are maybe isn’t that much,” said Williams. “We played some great rugby, maintained our continuity and were positive throughout.”
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That attacking drive was the biggest difference between the two Australia Tests with the self-belief growing as the game wore on. Williams able to take heart from the way that, by the end, his players even had the confidence to counter-attack from home kicks instead of just kicking the ball back as they had a week earlier. Chris Cusiter was singled out for special praise — “a colossus,” said Williams.
“We lost a lot of characters after the World Cup and it has taken time for these boys to gain self-belief,” Williams added.