A disappointing day on the scoreboard, but I feel a lot more optimistic about Scotland at the end of this autumn series than I did at the start.

Last week's loss to South Africa was a drab and worrying experience, but there was a lot more heart and effort about the Scots at Murrayfield last night.

The stadium atmosphere was jumping at times, but the game was not really that great a spectacle. Much of that came down to the quality of work put in by both back rows, for they were superb at slowing down each other's possession. Quick ball is the holy grail of rugby at this level, and we hardly saw any of it.

What we did see, from Australia, was some excellent finishing. Quade Cooper and Israel Folau were a class apart, talents that any side in the world would roll out the red carpets for.

If only Scotland could have come close to matching their skills. Instead, they lacked composure on the ball and butchered the few chances that came their way. They really should have had points after Johnnie Beattie made his brilliant break late in the first half, but Sean Maitland's next pass, to Sean Lamont, was poor, and Australia won the fraction of a second they needed to close the move down.

Maitland is a superb player, but we will get more from him when Scotland's other strike runners are fit and firing again. Much has been made of the adjustments Australia had to make to their backline, but it's worth remembering that Scotland have been without Tim Visser, Stuart Hogg, Matt Scott and Alex Dunbar over the past few weeks. That's a lot of talent to live without and I'm sure the side will offer far more of a threat going forward when they are back.

They will also add a necessary edge when they get that lineout sorted out. The best that could be said of it yesterday was that it was not quite as awful as it had been against South Africa. Folau's try came from Australia stealing Scottish possession on the touchline. At this level, those errors are usually costly.

Generally, I think Scott Johnson's men have gone reasonably well in the scrums over the past few weeks, but there weren't many of them in this game. Dave Denton is obviously back to close to his best, and it would have been great to see him get more chances to do his stuff from the set-piece. Maybe having a couple of other No 8s beside him sharpened his concentration.

Johnson has made no secret of his desire to widen the pool of talent available to Scotland, and his selections over the past few weeks have unquestionably done that. Jonny Gray looks a real prospect. His big brother Richie was proud when Jonny got his first cap last week, but he might start to worry about his own place if the kid keeps progressing at this rate.

I would have liked to see Chris Cusiter get on a little earlier. Cusiter is more of a battler around the rucks than Greig Laidlaw and I think he would have worried Australia more. Duncan Weir also had a pretty steady game, but he needs more exposure at this level to really stake his claim as Scotland's first-choice playmaker.

Overall, I think there is a lot more to come from this side. And they're not far away from delivering it.

The Six Nations is just over two months away, and if a few injury concerns fade away then I feel the team could have a real impact there. With a better lineout and more creativity in attack they really will be able to frighten good sides.