Kyle Steyn demands physical response from Scotland
INTERVIEW: Kyle Steyn is adamant Scotland must produce “a real physical defensive performance” against Australia in Edinburgh on Sunday if they are to avoid another Nations Championship defeat.
Scotland conceded seven tries in a 21-43 loss to New Zealand at Murrayfield in their November Nations Championship opener last weekend.
While Scotland’s attack can trouble the world’s best teams, they have conceded 38 points or more in five of their last six Tests.
When asked Thursday if Gregor Townsend’s men had looked at their defensive issues since the weekend, Scotland wing Steyn was emphatic.
“Yes, massively,” he said.
“Especially because a few of them were first-phase, which is definitely something we want to improve on and make a big step up on this week.
“There’s an element that the game is going there (becoming more high scoring), but I think that puts even more emphasis on the defence because you can’t beat a team if you’re conceding 43 points.
“The big challenge is to bounce back this week and make sure that we put a real physical Scotland defensive performance out there.”
Scotland failed to score a point in the second half against the All Blacks and Steyn admitted: “We were just really gutted that we just didn’t get our game up there consistently enough across the 80 minutes.”
Australia, however, also have concerns about their defence after a chastening 22-45 defeat by England at Twickenham.
“You’ve got two teams that are wounded that are both looking to bounce back,” said Steyn. “I think that makes the weekend really exciting.”
Scotland are fourth in the Northern Hemisphere table of the inaugural Nations Championship with home games against the Wallabies and Japan before the finals weekend at Twickenham.
The format of the Nations Championship means Scotland have increased exposure to leading sides ahead of next year’s World Cup in Australia.
“We really just want to test ourselves against the best teams as often as we can,” said Steyn. “Everyone knows how important the next 12 months are with the Rugby World Cup at the end of it.”
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