Ryan Wilson urges Scotland to maintain momentum in Australia

Scotland flanker Ryan Wilson says that he and his team-mates need to continue their momentum by beating Australia on Saturday.

The Scots take on the Wallabies in Sydney, live on Sky Sports 1 from 6:55am

Scotland have only ever won twice in Australia, but Wilson says their poor record historically will not deter them.

"Beating Australia over here is a big ask, but something this group aims to do," Wilson said. "We want to push on and start winning these games."

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Vern Cotter ended his spell in charge of Scotland after an impressive Six Nations campaign, and new head coach Gregor Townsend began his tenure successfully with a 34-13 victory over Italy last weekend.

"We speak about the momentum we gained when Vern Cotter was in charge, and we take a lot from that," Wilson said. "The momentum has got to carry on.

"We are getting closer and closer and, once you break through and start winning games like this against Australia, you get on a bit of a roll."

As well as having a less than enviable record in Australia, Scotland have only beaten the Wallabies twice since 1982. If they are going to change that record, Wilson believes that defence will be key.

"They are the sort of team who play a lot of attacking rugby, so defence is going to be massive for us," said Wilson.

"We have been watching a lot of the stuff they do this week, and we know we can go out and combat that. They are a good team, but so are we."

Wilson has the benefit of knowing his new international coaches better than most, having played under Gregor Townsend and Dan McFarland, the attack coach, at Glasgow Warriors.

They led Glasgow to the the Guinness PRO12 title in 2015, and Wilson believes they have brought the same approach to the Scotland job that brought success to his club side.

"Everything they did at Glasgow was at the highest level," said Wilson. "Those two don't miss a thing.

"I do not think anything changes in the way they go about it. They were so detailed, and they are the same here."