Scotland 15-16 Australia: Blair Kinghorn misses late kick as Scots come up just short

Blair Kinghorn's late kick drifted just wide as Scotland fell short

Scotland fell to defeat in their opening match of the Autumn Nations Series against Australia as Blair Kinghorn missed a last-gasp penalty for victory.

Ollie Smith crossed the tryline for Scotland on his second appearance, but Bernard Foley kicked the Wallabies into a 6-5 half-time lead.

Kinghorn's converted try and penalty put the Scots 15-6 up, though James Slipper's score and five more points from Foley turned the game the way of the visitors.

A penalty in the last minute would have snatched victory for the home side, but Kinghorn could not find the target.

Scotland face Fiji next weekend, while Australia will take on France in Paris.

• Kinghorn unfairly haunted by ghost of Murrayfield

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• Reaction & as it happened

The build-up to this autumn series was dominated by a couple of massive calls by Gregor Townsend - one to drop Finn Russell from his squad entirely, the other to strip Stuart Hogg of the captaincy and hand it to Jamie Ritchie.

Russell and Hogg were not available for this one anyway, with only Scottish-based players eligible to Townsend with the match falling outside the designated Test window.

Australia's search for consistency has been every bit as maddening for Dave Rennie as Scotland's has for Townsend, but the hosts' first foray into enemy territory brought an immediate reward with the opening try.

A beautifully executed backs move ended with Kinghorn delaying his pass to perfection to put Smith through a gap, and while the young full-back might have used the two-man overlap outside him, he justified his decision to go alone by dancing his way to the tryline.

Foley, the man who broke Scottish hearts with a late penalty in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, banged over a three-pointer in response to make it 5-3.

Australia were winning the territory battle in the opening quarter, only for their progress to be halted by the expertise of Ritchie and his team-mates at the breakdown. Four times the Wallabies were turned over just as they worked their way into the Scottish 22.

The Scots passed up a very kickable three points and went for the corner in search of more. And they should have had it when Kinghorn sent a beautiful long miss-pass towards Sione Tuipulotu, but with the tryline at his mercy the Glasgow centre let the ball, and the chance, slip from his grasp. Moments later Glen Young was held up over the line as the hosts pushed for a second try.

At the other end, Andrew Kellaway chipped ahead and looked like winning the race to the loose ball as it bobbled towards the home line, but Smith was alive to the danger to sweep up.

Foley struck again from the tee on the stroke of half-time to nudge the Wallabies one point in front at the break.

It was a strangely subdued atmosphere inside Murrayfield, but the crowd was brought to its feet when Scotland put themselves back in front early in the second half.

A big hit from Mark Bennett in midfield saw the ball come loose. Kinghorn hacked forward, showed searing pace to outstrip the cover defence and superb footballing skills to nudge the ball ahead to gather and score.

Blair Kinghorn went over for a scintillating try early in the second half

So much focus has fallen on Kinghorn going into this series following Russell's shock omission, and there were signs here he is shedding the 'L' plates as an international 10.

He knocked over a penalty to stretch the lead to 15-6, and it almost got even better as a break from Duhan van der Merwe took the Scots to the brink of the Australia line, but Grant Gilchrist spilled the ball as he looked to batter his way over. In the same passage of play, Young was sin-binned for an illegal clearout that offered the visitors encouragement.

On the hour mark we saw the introduction of Jack Dempsey for his Scotland debut. A recent change to eligibility rules means the Glasgow number eight is eligible to switch countries despite having won 14 caps for his native Australia.

It must have been a strange emotion for Dempsey taking his Scotland bow against his countrymen, but his mind would have snapped into gear pretty quickly as no sooner was Dempsey on the pitch than his old team-mates were crossing the whitewash, a period of sustained pressure finished off when captain Slipper dived over.

Still the match was struggling to get into a flow. At the 70-minute mark the penalty count had hit 26 - 14 of those against Scotland - the latest of which Foley fired over to edge the Wallabies back in front.

Scotland had to find something now, and a period of pressure brought a penalty 45m out.

Maybe it was fate that dictated this game would come down to Kinghorn, given the focus on him in the build-up and his influence on the match itself. But when his big moment arrived with the clock ticking towards the 80-minute mark, the fly-half fluffed his lines, pulling his kick wide of the posts.

And with that, the game was gone. A game Scotland might well have won, but didn't. Test rugby can be brutal sometimes.

'Blair should be proud of the way he played'

Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie: "Blair had an and outstanding game and missed one kick. Everybody makes mistakes.

"We had opportunities to win the game beforehand so it shouldn't have come down to that. I told him to keep his head up and be proud of the way he performed."

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: "We think obviously we should win it. We've had opportunities. It made it tougher when we were a man down and conceded a couple of penalties, but I was proud of how we played.

"Maybe we were a bit too safe in the first half. And when you play the top teams, top defences in the world, you need to be more than just safe."

Scotland: Ollie Smith; Darcy Graham, Mark Bennett, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Blair Kinghorn, Ali Price; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (capt), Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.

Replacements: George Turner, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Glen Young, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Ross Thompson, Damien Hoyland.

Australia: Banks; Kellaway, Ikitau, Paisami, Wright; Foley, McDermott; Slipper, Porecki, Alaalatoa, Frost, Neville, Holloway, Hooper, Valetini

Replacements: Fainga'a, Gibbon, Tupou, Hanigan, Gleeson, White, Lolesio, Campbell