After the seventh defeat in seven matches since he took over the job of rebuilding Scottish rugby, Williams admitted he was not surprised his development side suffered such a drubbing from Queensland, only the 10th best side in the Super 12.

"Our defence is poor. The skills aren't in players from a young age. They have never been coached how to tackle,'' he said.

When Williams asked in the dressing room after the game which players had missed a tackle, 12 of them put their hand up.

Williams, whose coaching assistants are from Ireland and New Zealand, said the likes of Ian McGeechan 'held it together' without the resources but stated that would not longer be good enough for Scottish rugby.

"The athletes in Scotland are as good as any in the world but what we haven't been doing is providing the coaches or the athletes with the resources so they can learn and compete on the international level,'' said Williams.

"The debate on who will play professional rugby has raged since 1995 and it is only in the last 12 months we have got onto how we'll play.

"Glasgow have got by with a part-time fitness coach and you just can't get away with that in modern rugby, it has gone out with button-up boots.

"Scottish rugby is in difficult times. The other organisations who we compete against have full-time defensive coaches who are out coaching every day of the week.

"They [the Scottish Rugby Union] have acknowledged we have got major problems and we are going to address them. What we need to do is have the resources for our players 12 months of the year.''

It was pointed out to Williams that in the period after the onset of professionalism, Scotland still managed to not only win Test matches but also a Five Nations championship.

Even with former rugby league coach Steve Anderson now on board as defensive guru, Scotland's line was shredded on Saturday as Queensland ran in seven tries.

"We are not winning games and that creates its own problems,'' he admitted.

Williams, who will be joined on tour by his new assistant Willie Anderson, will stick by his four-year development plan to overhaul the game in Scotland, aimed at creating a squad ready to challenge at the World Cup in 2007.

That involves blooding young players now, no matter how painful the defeats may be along the way and no matter how impatient the Scottish public get.

Newcastle lock Craig Hamilton is part of that future and was one of those to make his Scotland debut in what was an eye-opening experience, even for a player with English Premiership experience.

"It is a learning experience for me. It shows how big a step up it is,'' he said.

"You don't realise how big a step it is until you go out there and play. There are some great players out there but you have got to put yourself against the best if you want to improve.''

That is Williams' philosophy exactly and while supporters back home may wince when they read scorelines like 41-5 to Queensland, it appears his players retain full confidence in the development programme.

"It is quite hard to come off and see the scoreboard the way it was,'' Hamilton admitted.

"We were not used to playing with each other and stuck to it well. Hopefully you will see as the tour goes on it will get better and better.

"We know we have got the talent in this team, it is just bringing it together.''