SCOTLAND lock Richie Gray has admitted to being angered and upset by the three-week suspension imposed on his younger brother Jonny and team-mate Ross Ford.

The two forwards will both have their appeals heard in London today, but they are only appealing against the length of the ban - given for a dangerous tackle against Samoa - not against the guilty verdict. A three-man panel will hear the case and is expected to announce their decision later today, but Scotland coach Vern Cotter decided earlier this week that it was best to plan for tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final without the banned pair.

“When I heard the ban was given it was very upsetting,” former Glasgow Warriors second row Richie said yesterday. “On a personal front I feel for both guys, and I feel for my brother. I just have to put that to the side and get on with things.

“Without going into it too much you feel a few things obviously. Anger, disappointment. The reality is that you have you to get over it pretty quickly, because there’s a big game at the weekend.

“We’re disappointed to lose the guys, but we have to come together and put in a performance for ourselves, for these guys. We don’t want to let ourselves down.

“It will be very difficult [against Australia]. We’ve been very impressed by what we’ve seen. They’ve played some great attacking rugby, and against Wales they held them out with 13 men, but we have a game plan and we need to front up physically.

“It’s a pressure situation, a huge occasion. You play rugby for the fun of it and go out there and have a crack at one of the best teams in the world. We will go out there and enjoy ourselves, making tackles, hitting rucks.”

There were times in their last pool game against Samoa when Scotland did not look like they were having fun at all, and they had to dig deep to win 36-33 and go through to the last eight. Gray credited captain Greig Laidlaw with inspiring the team to play far better in the second half of that match.

“He’s a great boy. Great leader. Against Samoa things didn’t go to plan as we would like to in the first half. He brought us in and told us, ‘Boys, let’s calm down’. We kept things tight when we came out in the second half and put the squeeze on. He’s a calming influence, but you can see his will to win in everything he does. He’s a feisty character.”

Cotter has made four changes to the team that began against the Samoans. Fraser Brown and Tim Swinson replace Ford and Jonny Gray respectively, Blair Cowan comes into the back row instead of Ryan Wilson, and Peter Horne replaces the injured Matt Scott at centre. Australia have lost two of their most influential players, Israel Folau and David Pocock, to injury.

Scotland (v Australia at Twickenham, Sunday, 4pm): S Hogg; S Maitland, M Bennett, P Horne, T Seymour; F Russell, G Laidlaw; A Dickinson, F Brown, W Nel, T Swinson, R Gray, B Cowan, J Hardie, D Denton. Substitutes: K Bryce, G Reid, J Welsh, A Strokosch, J Strauss, H Pyrgos, R Vernon, S Lamont.

Australia: K Beale; A Ashley-Cooper, T Kuridrani, M Giteau, D Mitchell; B Foley, W Genia; S Sio, S Moore, S Kepu, K Douglas, R Simmons, S Fardy, M Hooper, B McCalman. Substitutes: T Polota-Nau, J Slipper, G Holmes, D Mumm, S McMahon, N Phipps, M Toomua, Q Cooper.