Scotland coach makes stunning call on Joseph Suaalii as Wallabies chase epic 40-year first
Gregor Townsend has been blown away by what he's seen from the NRL convert.
The Wallabies' newest sensation Joseph Suaalii can add one more fan to his growing list of admirers, with Scotland coach Gregor Townsend labelling him "world class" after just one full game. Townsend was blown away by Suaalii's Test debut against England as he maps out a plan to blunt the rugby league convert's influence in Sunday morning's (AEDT) clash with the Wallabies at Murrayfield.
After beating England and thrashing Wales, Australia has ticked off the first two games in its quest for a first Grand Slam victory in 40 years. If they defeat Scotland, the Wallabies will then face world No.2 Ireland for the chance to make it a clean sweep.
And Townsend, who spent time in Australia playing for Shute Shield club Warringah in the 1980s, expects Suaalii to be prominent in that push despite playing less than 100 minutes of international rugby. The former Rooster is expected to start in the centres against Scotland after coming off the bench against Wales.
"I thought some of his touches (against England) were incredible," Townsend said. "For your first (senior) game of union, it’s a Test match at Twickenham, and you’re able to offload lovely soft touches. He’ll take a lot of confidence from that and I just really know they’ve got a world-class footballer already."
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Overall, Townsend likes what he sees in Joe Schmidt's rejuvenated side and expects the best is yet to come. The Scotland boss said: "They’ve improved. Just playing in the Rugby Championship, you’re better on the back of that because you’ve got six games against three of the top teams in the world now.
"Argentina are obviously in the top five and South Africa and New Zealand are in the top two. So getting that experience to play each of those teams twice will make you better. Joe Schmidt, who’s a brilliant coach, has spent time with them now and they have some really good players.
"They’ve always had a big playing base (and) they may have gone through a little dip but they’ve got all their squad available and they've even been able to make changes on the back of the England game and bring in guys like Will Skelton and Samu Kerevi.
"It’s going to be a very tough game. We know they’re sitting about the same as us in world rankings so we see it as a real challenge. It would be very disappointing if we were to come away with a defeat against Australia, but we’ll have to play really well to win."
Scotland sit sixth on the World Rugby's rankings, with Australia close behind in eighth.
