Wallabies Burned by One of Their Own as Scotland Win 15-12

Australia replied within three minutes. Flyhalf Carter Gordon delayed his pass and released winger Harry Potter, who scored after Finn Russell missed the tackle.

Dempsey then finished a pick-and-go, with Ewan Ashman and Fagerson driving towards the line. Russell's conversion made it 12-5 at halftime.

A late Wallabies surge

The match then stalled. Neither side scored for more than 45 minutes in an error-ridden contest, until Australia were penalized for not clearing the ruck in the 74th minute. Russell kicked the penalty for a 15-5 lead.

Winger Max Jorgensen crossed with less than a minute left, and Ben Donaldson converted. Australia collected the restart and looked for a winning try. Darcy Graham bundled Tom Wright into touch to end it.

Lock Josh Canham had a first-half try disallowed by the TMO (television match official) for obstruction by his second-row partner Jeremy Williams. Captain Harry Wilson said that moment mattered.

"They're really trying to crack down on that at the moment and that was probably a really big moment in the end because 14-all at halftime we might have had them there," Wilson said. "We've got to be better at icing those big moments."

Kiss pointed to the good and the bad. "Our defence definitely turned up. Our physicality overall was right up, which was pleasing," he said. "But you want to win those ones."

Pressure builds

It was Australia's eighth successive loss in Europe. They showed early promise when Kiss took over in August, but they were heavily beaten by England at Twickenham a week earlier.

Scotland have beaten Australia in five of their last six meetings and retained the Hopetoun Cup. Stand-in captain Rory Darge lifted the trophy because Tuipulotu was a late scratching with a knee injury.

Wilson called the performance a significant improvement. The losing run still leaves the Wallabies under growing pressure, with less than a year until their home Rugby World Cup starts on October 1.