Scotland are on course to shock Australia and reach the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time in 24 years having gone into the halfway stage of this afternoon's quarter-final at Twickenham with a 16-15 lead.
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It was the Wallabies who applied the early pressure and the in-form Bernard Foley, scorer of all 15 of his side's points against Wales last time out, almost made a break metres from the line only for Drew Mitchell to knock on from the offload.
They would not have to wait long for the opening score, however, as a missed tackle on Tevita Kuridrani created an overlap that was gleefully accepted by Adam Ashley-Cooper to go over in the corner.
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Foley was unable to add the conversion, though, and Scotland responded well after an ominous opening 10 minutes as their first meaningful attack yielded a penalty that Greig Laidlaw dispatched.
Things got even better for Vern Cotter's side moments later when they again worked their way deep into the Australian 22 before Peter Horne made the most of absent defending to dart over from the base of a ruck.
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Another Laidlaw penalty extended the lead to three points as Scotland continued to exert their surprise dominance, and they then failed to make the most of a gift when Kuridrani gave the ball straight to Finn Russell, whose pass was dropped by Mark Bennett with a clear pitch in front of him.
The Wallabies finally halted the Scottish momentum and began to build some of their own, sucking the Scottish defence in with some sustained pressure before spreading it out to the left for Mitchell to touch down.
Once again Foley was unable to convert the try from the touchline, and another Laidlaw penalty put Scotland three points closer to a third win over the Aussies in their last four meetings.
Michael Cheika's side were clearly aware of the position they found themselves in, and turned down a kickable penalty late in the half in favour of going for the lineout.
The risk paid off too as Michael Hooper touched down from the resulting driving maul, but Foley dragged his conversion wide for a third time to leave Scotland with a one-point lead at the break.
Barney Corkhill
