Scotland suffered a chastening eight-try defeat by Australia in their WXV Global Series match in Sydney.

It was the visitors' eighth straight defeat, four of them in the new competition, having lost to Canada, New Zealand and the Aussies in their home ties.

Australia have two victories, both against the Scots, after losing to England and France, their 30-10 win in Edinburgh having lifted them above their hosts in the world rankings.

As they sought revenge, the Scots, under caretaker head coach Dave Butcher, lost Sarah Bonar to illness shortly before kick-off and the Harlequins lock was replaced with Bristol Bears' Hollie Cunningham.

And they started brightly, with Katie Buchanan collecting the ball on the wing, beating a defender and sprinting over the line to give them a fifth-minute lead in her first international start.

Australia, though, responded with five tries by half-time.

The Scots held on to the lead until the 17th-minute, when hooker Brittany Merlo went over to draw the hosts level and wing Maya Stewart added another six minutes later, with Samantha Wood converting both.

Australia took complete control after centre Meryl Smith was sent to the sin-bin and Desiree Miller, Amelia Whitaker and Ellis all scored to give the hosts a commanding 35-5 lead at the break.

Miller crossed for her second two minutes after the restart, but the Scots did manage a reply soon after as captain Rachel Malcolm would not be denied close to the line and Helen Nelson added the conversion.

Scotland managed to hold out for close to another 20 minutes before Whitaker broke clear to score her second try with 15 minutes remaining.

The hosts completed the scoring in the closing seconds through Eva Karpani after Scotland lost second row Eva Donaldson to a yellow card.