The Scots defeated a weakened Fiji team and rising rugby nation Portugal either side of a 32-15 defeat to world champions South Africa.
That match saw Scotland, sixth in the world rankings, give the Springboks a scare, but they did not score a try before succumbing to defeat.
And they now face a Wallabies side fresh from wins over England and Wales this month.
“Looking at the games coming in, we knew clearly that the games in South Africa and Australia would be the big challenges,” said Scotland center Jones. “We obviously have the ambition to be successful as a team and as a team and we have to win the games against the seven, eight best teams in the world.
“These are games that we have to win now if we really want to be taken seriously.
“It’s all well and good to beat Fiji and Portugal and win our games on the summer tour… The game against South Africa was disappointing but this weekend against Australia we have to keep it going.”
The Wallabies are now eighth in the world rankings, with the team on the rise under coach Joe Schmidt.
“They were really good,” Jones said this month of Australia’s form. “They have scored a lot of tries, they have threats everywhere.”
Scotland have won three of their last four meetings with Australia, although they lost by a single point in the last meeting at Murrayfield two years ago.
Jones missed the last two most recent Tests between the team, so Sunday will be his first match against Australia since the 30-year-old scored a try in a thumping 53-24 win in Edinburgh in November 2017.
“The last time I played them was a while ago, when we beat them big time!” he said. “But I haven’t been involved in the matches lately, but they were exciting.”
Jones added: “The game against South Africa had a lot of positives and it was a decent performance in some respects, but this is where we want to have that great performance but ultimately come out on the right side of the score.”
© 2024 AFP
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