The coming men: Tom Jordan’s best positions are 10 and 12 but against the Boks he started at 15 and was incredibly dangerous. He will not displace Kinghorn come the Six Nations but Scotland’s bench will be a whole lot stronger with him on it. His versatility opens up all sorts of possibilities for Townsend.
Add Max Williamson to that list. The lock won a turnover off Siya Kolisi and won numerous collisions against the Boks in a terrific performance. The fact that he was ill during the week of that game made his display all the more impressive. Injury cut his autumn short, sadly. Aged 22 and a giant, the coming year will be a big one for Mad Max.
The returning man: In the wake of a Scottish breakdown turnover on Sunday, Jamie Ritchie got in the face of a Wallaby. Uncalled for, probably, but it was a reminder of the hard edge that shot Ritchie to prominence in the first place.
Having lost the captaincy, Ritchie’s been in and out of the team and the squad this year, but he delivered on Sunday. Tough and unrelenting and loud.
The battle in Scotland’s back row has rarely been as fierce. Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey. Andy Onyeama Christie (when fit again), Ritchie and Josh Bayliss. Gregor Brown, Luke Crosbie and Ben Muncaster. Euan Ferrie is one to watch. Magnus Bradbury is the forgotten man.
Lineout needs to become ruthless: The raw numbers of Scotland’s lineout return show that they coughed up 11 in their four matches but caused the opposition to lose 10. Against the Boks they lost two to South Africa’s three. That was good, given the Bok lineout is imperious.
It’s not so much the number of lineouts that Scotland lose but where they lose them. They need to become more clinical. During that mad second half spell against the Boks, when the visitors were pinned to the ropes, Scotland had a five-metre lineout and a chance to execute. They lost it. A great opportunity blown.
The clever appreciation of Australia’s vulnerability brought them a lineout score on Sunday. A step in the right direction.
Reasons to be cheerful: Lack of consistency has been Scotland’s problem for a quarter of a century. Only the terminally gullible would declare them contenders in 2025, but you cannot write them off either. Not with the talent they have.
They have deepened their player pool in 2024 and improved their bench and back-up to the bench. It’s encouraging but it's been seen before. We’re stuck again in the no man’s land between fatalism and optimism. Which way to run?
Zander Fagerson has big claims to be player of the year. Certainly, he carried the biggest burden given the lack of back-up. There is some encouragement there, though. Will Hurd now looks a decent prospect and Elliot Millar-Mills, for all his journeyman status, has always performed admirably.
In declaring the performance against the Wallabies as decent but not much more than that, Tuipulotu struck the right tone. In every sense, he’s the leader that Scotland need right now.