From almost as soon as he was appointed, Williams had targeted this trip to form the backbone of all his long-term plans for the development of Scottish rugby.

It has been a hard slog for Scotland, but it was all of Williams own choosing with six fixtures in less than a month, 46 players included, two separate squads and several logistical headaches.

But its purposes for Williams were clear. He needed to forge a Club Scotland mentality, a spirit of togetherness which would infuse performances and invoke a self-belief in an inexperienced squad.

With that basis, he explained, fine-tuning the areas of Scotlands game which still need serious work - the missed tackles and the composure in attack - promises to be a far easier task.

But reaching that platform meant taking risks, exposing raw talent to the international arena and taking on the World Cup finalists with an inexperienced Test side emerging from an unhappy RBS 6 Nations campaign.

Williams said: We saw the Australia tour as a blessing and a necessity.

We said, lets get the rugby principles into a group of 40-50 players, lets get those principles down into the the professional teams and Under-19s.

We needed a tough tour like this. It was fraught with danger because there was so much unknown but, at the end of it, I couldnt have wished for more.

The goals we set as far as identifying players and lifting the national team to another level - those are massive statements - we have achieved.

The success in development over the last month has been unqualified with the likes of Chris Cusiter, Ally Hogg, Sean Lamont, Hugo Southwell, Craig Hamilton and Graeme Morrison emerging from a thumping 41-5 defeat to Queensland as the future of Scottish rugby.

Williams continued: When we get the injured players back like Gavin Kerr, Andy Craig, Chris Paterson - all of a sudden we have got 35 players we didnt have six months ago.

We have got experience, we are a bit hungry and there are senior players looking over their shoulder.

Simon Taylor might even have to look over his shoulder with Ally Hogg. Simon is an outstanding player but Allys performances on this tour have been world class.

And Chris Cusiter. He was a colossus. When we came on this tour we potentially had one or two British Lions candidates, now we have four or five.