There will be tougher tests to come for Frank Hadden's men, but they showed they will be a force to be reckoned with on this showing, although admittedly it was against limited opposition.

Stellar fly-half Dan Parks scored a try and five conversions to grab a 15-point personal haul, while Rory Lamont (two), Scott Lawson, Rob Dewey, Hugo Southwell, Kelly Brown and Ross Ford also went over.

The Portuguese celebrated their first World Cup match with a converted try by Pedro Carvalho and a penalty by Duarte Pinto, but they were overrun by the Scots, whose cutting edge will have impressed Hadden.

Lamont, especially, was a handful for the Portuguese and it was his early brace of tries which set the tone for the evening.

The Scots showed a refreshing appetite for running rugby in the first half, turning down kickable penalties and showing some brio in the backs and power in the forwards.

Lamont's tries arrived in the opening 14 minutes, both coming in the right corner and both assisted by Jason White.

Lawson, who like Lamont has signed for Sale for next season, crossed for the third after an excellent cross-field kick into the left corner from Parks, and Dewey bludgeoned over for a fourth before half-time.

Parks' conversions were flawless but the same could not be said of Scotland's defence, which was breached by Carvalho in the 28th minute for the Iberians' first World Cup try.

Duarte Pinto's conversion and 34th-minute penalty made it 28-10 at the interval.

Hadden's men were sloppy in the opening quarter of an hour of the second half, and Portugal noticeably grew in confidence.

But order was restored close to the hour mark, Parks and then Southwell going over from close range for converted tries in the space of three minutes.

Parks departed after his own try and would have been delighted with his evening's work at fly-half.

Brown and Ford came off the bench to score close-range tries in the last 12 minutes, and all in all Scotland were the most potent they have been in a long while.

One worry for Hadden would have been the injury suffered by prop Allan Jacobsen, who was carried off on a stretcher down at the end of the first half.