HARD HITTING VIEW

If anyone had offered Gregor Townsend three wins out of four matches in the Autumn Nations Series before a ball was kicked, I suspect he may have taken it.

Looking back, however, it may be that the campaign has posed more questions than answers for the Scottish coach.

An under-strength, ill-prepared Tonga were despatched with ease, Scotland defeated Australia by the narrowest of margins and then were out-classed by World Champions South Africa before beating Japan in a performance that was far from convincing, especially in the second half of the match when other sides would have really kicked on.

The results may look all right, but when you compare them with the performances of the other sides in the Six Nations they appear less convincing.

Scotland could be on a par with Wales, who were thumped by the All Blacks but competed well against South Africa before defeating the Wallabies by a single point.

England beat all their opponents – South Africa by a single point – while France and Ireland both defeated the All Blacks during their campaigns.

France were particularly impressive as they beat the New Zealanders by 40-25 – a humiliation in All Black terms.

So any optimism for the upcoming Six Nations after the Lions tour where Scotland had a large representation must now be tempered.

While the defence was pretty resolute, Scotland were exposed in a couple of matches at the breakdown, losing the contact and conceding far too many penalties.

Nor did their attack really function, except against Tonga, whose defence contained more holes than a colander.

Townsend did take the opportunity to test out his strength in depth and a few new names showed enough promise to suggest that they had bright futures in a Scottish shirt.

The back row remains a challenge, with no one really putting their hand up to make the No. 8 shirt their own.

Scotland lacked powerful aggressive ball carriers to give themselves some “go forward” momentum – and this led to some of the problems at the breakdown.

So there is work to be done before the Six Nations and the coach will want all of his Lions fit and raring to go come the end of January, which isn’t too far away.

On the basis of the Autumn Internationals however, the bookies are likely to be making it a two-horse race between Ireland and France, with England perhaps an outside bet.

Both France and England have to travel to Murrayfield, however, so they will have their work cut out against a side who are capable of raising their game for big occasions such as the Calcutta Cup.

The most-daunting fixture is the trip to Dublin, however. Few sides will be relishing facing the Irish at home in 2022.

‘ Optimism for the Six Nations should be tempered