mens
nations-championship
Kyle Steyn called for porous Scotland to brace and provide a “real physical defensive effect” against Australia on Sunday as they look to bounce back from their heavy loss to New Zealand.
The Scots conceded seven tries and went down 43-21 All black people at Murrayfield on Saturday, meaning they have delivered 38 points or more in five of their last six matches.
While Gregor Townsend’s side are generally well served by a prolific attack, winger Steyn admitted they need to put extra emphasis on making it harder for them to score.
“Yes, massively,” he said when asked if they had looked at their defensive issues since the weekend. “Especially because some of them were first stages, which is definitely something we want to improve and take a big step forward this week.
“There’s an element of the game going there (in terms of becoming more open and scoring high), but I think it puts even more emphasis on defense because you can’t beat a team if you concede 43 points.
“The big challenge is to bounce back this week and make sure we have a real physical defensive performance from Scotland.”
Scotland failed to get a point in the second half against the All Blacks and Steyn, one of their senior players, said: “It’s been a tough couple of days to be honest. We were really dismayed that we didn’t execute our game consistently enough over the 80 minutes.
“To be honest, the leaders took a good look. I think when we looked at it, their leaders came up with some really big plays in big moments and probably beat our group of leaders in that regard.”
Australia head to Murrayfield on the back of a 45-22 defeat England on Sunday.
“You have two teams that are wounded and both want to recover,” Steyn said. “I think that makes the weekend really exciting.
“The mix of styles should also make it a really exciting game. If you let them get going, they have a really powerful offense.”
Scotland are fourth in the Northern Hemisphere table in the inaugural table Nations Championship with home games against the Wallabies and Japan before the final weekend in London.
Steyn is keen for his side to make the most of the increased opportunities they have to face the best teams ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“We really just want to test ourselves against the best teams as often as we can,” he said. “Everyone knows how important the next 12 months are for Rugby World Cup at the end of it.
“Everybody’s going to try to stress test themselves, put themselves in the deep end as much as possible. Having something to play for and put ourselves in a high-table clash (on finals weekend) is definitely something we’re aiming for.”