Wallabies wary of Scottish 'slow poison'
Following their 32-8 demolition of Wales at the weekend, the Wallabies arrived in Edinburgh to continue their quest of a first Grand Slam (victory over all four Home Unions) since 1984.
Nick Phipps, one of the stars in the win over the Welsh in Cardiff, said the New Zealand influence in their team is what makes Scotland so dangerous.
Apart from coach Vern Cotter, there is wing Sean Maitland and loose forward John Hardie with strong Kiwi ties.
While the Wallabies have shown their eagerness to play a more "expansive" game, Phipps feels they could be stifled by the Scottish tactics of "slowing down" the game.
"They've got quite a Kiwi influence on the style of play they have," Phipps said in an interview on the Wallaby website.
"They're very defensive, very pressure-oriented around the breakdown, especially so it's going to make life pretty tough for the No.9 and No.10 around that area.
"Scotland are a super team, they've always troubled us. In the World Cup last year it was close [decided on a contentious refereeing decision] and they beat us in Newcastle a couple of years ago.
"They're very passionate, especially at their home ground they'll be super [passionate].
"We've got a big week of work ahead of us and we just want to make sure we're as well prepared as possible to deal with whatever is thrown at us.
"It will be a great week and we'll really enjoy the battle and the grind of the tour going into the second game of five, and hopefully we'll be able to come out on the right side of the ledger."
The dominant win over Wales is also not lulling the Wallabies into any false confidence about their prospects of completing a Grand Slam, coach Michael Cheika said.
The effect of having played 10 Tests, including seven in the past three months, showed for the Wallabies with an emphatic start against a Welsh side missing big names and lacking match practice.
While Cheika was positive about his side's performance he wasn't letting himself look beyond the Test against Scotland.
"We've said this from the very start so we're not going to change our tune now and say 'we're in good shape'," Cheika said.
"We're just going to try and take things a day at a time.
"I think it's a good start, obviously, for us," Cheika said of the win over Wales in Cardiff.
"We've said this from the very start so we're not going to change our tune now and say 'we're in good shape'.
"We're just going to try and take things a day at a time."
Source: rugby.com.au
