Coach Matt Williams did not believe the final 35-15 scoreline reflected the difference in quality, with two soft tries late on, as Scotland desperately chased an unlikely victory, gifting Australia their 20-point margin.

Williams was left to rue a lack of composure and self-belief amongst his inexperienced back division at crucial periods but Southwell vowed Scotland would learn fast from their mistakes.

We are not that far off them at all. It looks as though it is quite a big scoreline, but we are not that far off, said Southwell, the former Sussex county cricketer.

I think we sat back and gave them too much respect but in the second 20 minutes of the first half we started to believe in ourselves.

That belief started well in the second half but we slipped up late on. It was a pretty positive performance, although to lose is frustrating.

With 20 minutes to go it was 21-15 and we just let it go, but the self belief that we have now, we know we can match them.

After Joe Roff had passed 200 Test points with two penalties and Matt Giteau scored the first try of the game, a dominant second 20 minutes hauled Scotland back into the game.

From 13-0 down, Glasgows Dan Parks landed four penalties to leave the match balanced by the interval and it was then Williams wanted his men to push on.

Although Scotland defended all day with passion and commitment, the ability to create an outlet to release the pressure was missing and they were punished.

Lote Tuqiri scored twice, just two days after pledging his future to rugby union, before fellow league convert Wendell Sailor rounded off a tough examination with a gift of a try.

Scotland were on the counter-attack when Simon Webster attempted a chip forward which, had it worked, would have left he and Southwell clear down the left wing.

But Sailor stood his ground, plucked the ball from the air and as the two Scotland players raced by, he sauntered to the try-line untouched.

I am just very disappointed about the last 14 points I think we gifted them but I thought there were a lot of positives from our performance, said Williams.