Highly respected Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne believes the gap between the southern hemisphere heavyweights and the northern hemisphere wannabes has never been closer.
Michael Cheika's side finish their spring tour and a disappointing 2017 season in Edinburgh on Saturday (0130 Sunday AEDT) against a rejuvenated Scotland.side.
Byrne, a former AFL ruckman with Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney, joined the Wallabies coaching staff this season after 12-year spell with the all-conquering All Blacks.
The 55-year-old has also worked for the Scotland team and believes that Gregor Townsend's side, who almost beat New Zealand last week, are edging close to the top teams in the world.
Byrne also believes Scotland's win over the Wallabies in Sydney in June demonstrated they are no longer daunted by the prospect of facing rugby's heavyweight sides.
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"If you look towards the last few years, the belief they are getting in themselves, first under Vern (Cotter) and now Gregor they are starting to understand who they are and how they can play the game," Byrne said.
"Everybody is always trying to get better to match with the All Blacks now.
"England are working to get better and improve their game and everybody is working in a cycle to ready for 2019.
"There's some great coaching going on and the hard work done by the players.
"They are fitter and stronger than I have ever seen. That is just going to augur well for the game and where it is at."
Scotland were a last-ditch tackle away from a first-ever win over New Zealand last Saturday and Byrne said there were no surprises among the Wallabies staff at how well they fared against Steve Hansen's side.
"They're a great team, they're playing well, they're well-coached and they've been playing great rugby now for a couple of years," Byrne said.
"They're certainly going to make sure we don't start the way we want to and get the job done."
Scotland and Australia have each won three of the last six encounters each and the last two victories by Cheika's side have been a solitary point.
Byrne believes the desire of the Scots to run the ball and play expansively is a reason for the close scorelines.
"I think that it's two good sides playing rugby and I think that when you look at the games, the reason why they're close is both sides are trying to play rugby," he said.
"There's an ebb and flow in the game and on occasions - this time last year we were in front when the siren went.
"In June, they were in front when the siren went.
"That's the why you've got to play against this team."
