ROSS Ford was restored to the Scotland starting line-up against Georgia on Saturday because of his greater experience and solidity, having given way to the more mobile Fraser Brown in the game against Argentina a week earlier. The idea, or so we thought, was that the 32-year-old hooker was there to be a bulwark in defence against the formidable Georgian forwards. Instead, he took the game to his opponents with some dynamic running, and looked speedier and sharper than he has done for some time.

Ford gave way to Brown for the last half-hour of the game, which by then was in the bag. He and other members of the pack such as Ryan Wilson and Jonny Gray played a massive part in pummelling the Georgians into submission, although characteristically his reaction afterwards was a mixture of understatement and self-deprecation.

“It was good fun,” he said. “I quite enjoyed it and got some good carries, which helped us get front-foot ball. The pressure we put on them dictated the pace and the outcome of the game in the first half.

“We let them off the hook a bit in the second half - they kept the ball more and we had to work harder. But overall it was a good performance by the team to score a few tries.

“Obviously we knew it was going to be a tough shift and that we had to keep up the pace of the game and keep the ball as much as possible to nullify their scrum. And we managed to do that in the first half especially.”

As Ford was quick to acknowledge, however, Scotland did not have it all their own way. They conceded the opening score off the back of a rolling maul, and although they quickly established control, Georgia continued to pose a lot of problems at the breakdown and the set piece.

“A couple of lost lineouts - one was well competed and the other a poor throw,” he summed up that aspect of the game. “Our driving maul was good.

“In the scrum there was a wee bit of mucking about - there always is - but overall I thought it wasn’t too bad. We did give them a bit of access into the game in the scrum at times, but when you go up against a class outfit like that . . . That’s what they pride themselves on. They’ve pretty much demolished every team they’ve played this year. I think we did an okay job.”

The hooker also applied that modest verdict to his own performance, and said he had accepted the wisdom of head coach Vern Cotter’s decision to leave him out of the team for the Pumas game. “I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. There’s plenty left in us yet. New things are always coming into the game and you have to adapt but I’m always striving to get better.”

“Vern said he was going to spread the workload. You never want to be coming off the bench. You always want to be starting but it’s credit to the boys around me. We’ve got strength in depth and you have to be playing well to get in this team.”

That enhanced internal competition has been arguably the most encouraging aspect of Scotland’s three Autumn Test performances, but Ford, in common with Cotter himself, insisted there was no time for the squad to sit back and congratulate themselves on the improvements they have made over the past few weeks. Instead, he explained, the focus had to move immediately to preparing for the next Six Nations, and ensuring the positive elements of the games against Australia, Argentina and Georgia were not forgotten over the winter.

“It’s a really good group of players. If you look at the backs we have now, if we can get some good set-piece ball you can see what they can do today and in the past couple of weeks. They’re dangerous and can finish things off. It’s always about being consistent and that first game is always an important one. We need to make sure we always improve and don’t sit back, relax and think we’ve done a good job.

"Don't get me wrong. We enjoy the wins and we're a tight group, but we've got to be honest. We've been in this position before and we've not started the Six Nations well. I think this autumn we are further down the track, but we've got to come back pre-Six Nations and move on further.”

Ford’s fellow-forward Hamish Watson, who scored his first international try in the second half, agreed with his Edinburgh team-mate that it was vital not to lose sight of the progress made in the past three matches. “I don't think we'll lose that much momentum,” he said. “We had a small chat about the Six Nations in the changing room: we've got to keep the momentum going.

“We all go back to our clubs now. Hopefully all the boys will avoid injury and it will be a really tough team for Vern to pick come the Six Nations with a lot of boys pushing for places. Hopefully Edinburgh and Glasgow can keep playing well and Vern will have a tough time picking the squad.”