Scotland 59-21 Portugal: Three things we learned

Bayliss in pole position to replace Dempsey

The Portugal game was, in part, a trial to see who was going to take over from the injured Jack Dempsey for the Wallabies game on Sunday. Gregor Townsend could put Luke Crosbie in at six and move Matt Fagerson to eight or he could just put in Ben Muncaster as a direct replacement for Dempsey.

The probability, though, is that Josh Bayliss has cemented his place in the starting line-up against the Wallabies. The big Bath number eight was decent against Portugal, showing power and pace in scoring a try, his third for Scotland in nine Tests. He doesn’t have Dempsey’s manic carrying ability, but has a bit of dynamism about him and he looks to be the one for Australia.

McDowall, Hutchinson, Reed – lucky and unlucky

All three players were really good against Portugal and all three are fine rugby players who, in a different landscape, would win a ton of caps. They’ll win plenty more, you’d hope, but their misfortune is to be around in a time of plenty for Scotland.

Stafford McDowall and Rory Hutchinson are competing with Scotland’s best midfield partnership (Huwipulotu) since Gregor Townsend and John Leslie a quarter of a century ago.

Arron Reed is up against the best collection of Scottish wings possibly ever. An absolute flying machine, he has now scored four tries in three Tests (what more can he do?) but he’s probably sixth choice behind Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn, Blair Kinghorn and Kyle Rowe.

All three are delighted to be in the mix, but you feel for them at the same time.

Callow Scottish lineout struggled, but…

Scotland lost five lineouts against Portugal, which is an unacceptable number. Was it the throw, the lift, the catcher, the movement on the floor, the timing in the air? So many moving parts, so many things that can go wrong. You wouldn’t expect them to go so badly wrong against Portugal, though.

There is nuance to this, of course. The lineout personnel had never played with each other before. One of the stats of the day was that Jamie Bhatti had more caps than the other seven starting Scottish forwards put together. Four of the seven had four caps or fewer. Two were uncapped.

So, unfamiliarity would have been an issue. Grant Gilchrist and Scott Cummings will return against the Wallabies, along with Ewan Ashman and hopefully security out of touch will return with them for what promises to be a thrilling finale to Scotland’s autumn.