The Wallaroos have completed their three-game Scottish sweep in a spicy Canberra contest that featured biting accusations and a string of yellow cards.
Australia produced plenty of classy moments in Friday night’s 38-31 win but again lacked discipline in tackles and around the ruck to keep the tourists in it.
The hosts copped four yellow cards, retiring centre Cecilia Smith earning two of those to finish her 34-Test career on a red.
Scotland had two players sin-binned and it could have been far uglier if Wallaroos centre Georgina Friedrichs’s accusations of biting had been verified on review.
But the officials saw no evidence and there were no bite marks on Friedrich’s forearm, so the referee waved the complaints away.
Fifty-game prop Eva Karpani was yellow-carded for a high shot in her milestone game, while impressive flyhalf Waiaria Ellis was marched for slowing down a Scottish charge late in the first half.
The win came as a relief for retiring pair Emily Chancellor and Smith, with the latter smiling as she received a standing ovation after being sent off.
“I’m really sorry about that, just wanted to go out with a bang I guess,” Smith said as she embraced her daughter Ruby post-match.
“She’s been there since day one (of Smith’s Wallaroos career).
“Having her there at trainings, camps, on the sideline, means so much and I just want to be that role model and show you can do anything if you put your mind to it and the hard work in.”
A teary Chancellor, former captain and two-time World Cup member, signed off with a win in her 42nd Test after debuting in 2018.
“It’s created so much opportunity for me, so much purpose in my life. I love these girls and what we play for,” she said.
“I love what this game has given us: travel the world with great people and create opportunity. You can’t be what you can’t see.”
Victory for Australia followed wins in Sydney and Edinburgh against the same opponents, the side now out of action until the Wallaroos program transitions to a full-time operation next year under new coach Sione Fukofuka.
The hosts led 14-0 early but trailed 17-14 at halftime after a string of penalties led to three successive Scottish tries.
The Wallaroos regained the ascendancy and surged back ahead 38-24 when captain Siokapesi Palu Sekona finished a long-range effort.
But Karpani and then Smith were marched, keeping Scotland interested until the final play, but they were unable to find the match-tying converted try.
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