FROM the times in which the national team was chosen by a blazer-clad committee to the current era of head coaches, Scotland’s selectors have rarely if ever had an embarrassment of riches from which to choose. There may have been periods when larger nations such as England and France have had 40 or 50 genuine contenders for Test places, but we have invariably had to make do with more meagre resources.

Even our greatest teams have been able to boast few genuine global stars. Members of the 1990 Grand Slam side, arguably our greatest team ever, have said as much themselves: there were four or five world-class talents in that line-up, perhaps the same number again as a first-rate supporting cast, and then the rest were solid, capable men who did their bit to ensure that the team as a whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

Back in those amateur days, there was a common argument that the fact that many of our opponents had larger populations - England’s 50 million compared to our own five million, for example - was irrelevant. So too the playing numbers, in which, again, Scotland tended to be outnumbered many times over by some regular opponents. The only relevant comparison, we were told, came on the field of play, where it was 15 against 15.

That may have been true back then, in the days when it really was just the same line-ups that began and ended the game, or slightly later when the odd injury replacement could be called on. But in the professional era it is much more complicated. Test matches these days tend to be 23 against 23, with every available substitute used. And to ensure that the final 23 chosen for match day is at the best possible level, every country needs to generate real internal competition.

Which brings us to Vern Cotter, and the limited choices he has available to him as he finalises his line-up for the first of Scotland’s three Autumn Tests, against Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday. The head coach and other leading figures within Scottish rugby have identified weak spots in the national squad and acted to repair them: hence, for instance, the decision to move Kevin Bryce from hooker to tighthead prop - a decision which the coach himself sold to the player. If every player stayed in the position in which he began to play rugby, we would by this time have a serious deficiency at hooker too, though thankfully that prospect was avoided some time ago when both Fraser Brown and Stuart McInally decided to move up from back row to front.

So far so good, but unfortunately for Cotter, his decision to bring in long-term reinforcements to the front row have fallen foul of short-term injuries. The biggest loss is Edinburgh tighthead WP Nel, who could still conceivably come back to claim the No 3 shirt for the coming matches against Argentina and Georgia, but has been ruled out of the Wallabies match with a neck strain. Bryce is also injured, although by his own assessment the Autumn Tests are coming far too early for him to be a realistic contender in his new position. On the other side of the scrum, Edinburgh loosehead Rory Sutherland is out, while both his team-mate Alasdair Dickinson and Glasgow’s Gordon Reid are at best highly doubtful.

That makes it likely that Allan Dell will make his debut at loosehead with Zander Fagerson at tighthead, with Ross Ford, who is set to win his 100th cap, supplying some much-needed experience in the middle. The Gray brothers are expected to continue their partnership at lock, unless Cotter opts for Grant Gilchrist instead of Richie - although either way, all three are likely to be called on.

The last time Scotland played Australia - the agonising defeat in the 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter-final - Cotter chose to fight fire with fire in the back row by going with two opensides in Blair Cowan and John Hardie. The Australians had previously perfected that ploy with the partnership of David Pocock and Michael Hooper, although in the event Pocock was ruled out of the Twickenham encounter because of injury.

David Denton, who is on the injury list this time round, joined Hardie and Cowan in the back row in an experiment which is unlikely to be repeated this time round. For one thing, Cotter consistently argued that Cowan was as effective a 6 as he was a 7 - something that could not be said of Hardie’s rival for the No 7 jersey in the current squad, the attack-minded Hamish Watson. Hardie should keep his place, but with Ryan Wilson and John Barclay.

Thankfully there are far fewer injuries in the backs, with the match fitness of some of the centres being the main concern. Whoever is selected in the end, though, you can be sure that if they are going to beat the Australians, they will, just like their predecessors back in 1990, have to add up to more than the sum of their parts.

Possible Scotland team v Australia: S Hogg; S Maitland, A Dunbar, H Jones, T Seymour; F Russell, G Laidlaw; A Dell, R Ford, Z Fagerson, R Gray, J Gray, J Barclay, J Hardie, R Wilson. Substitutes: F Brown, A Allan, M Low, G Gilchrist, H Watson, H Pyrgos, P Horne, M Bennett.