LET’S take the emotion out of this, as Vern Cotter likes to do. The pain of Sunday’s 35-34 loss to Australia and the accompanying feeling of injustice will come back every time we see that scoreline in the record books, but it is history now.

Rather than continue to look back at the past and nurse a grievance that cannot be cured, we need to look to the future. No longer with cautious optimism - a sentiment that at times has been the best we could honestly manage when it came to assessing Scotland’s chances - but with genuine, hard-to-contain excitement.

The result of that match cannot be altered now, but the performance that Cotter’s team put in against the Wallabies has transformed a lot of things. From being a side that could not even get the better of Italy at home during the Six Nations, Scotland are now an outfit that came within a point of defeating the two-times world champions in an epic battle.

It is not sour grapes to say that on another day they would have won. It is not unrealistic to say that this team, which is still in the early stages of its development under the head coach, can go on to great things.

We should not expect such drama from them every game, for no player who is human can reach the same level of intensity for a normal Test match that Scotland’s squad did for the Rugby World Cup quarter-final. But we can expect them to mature gradually, to learn to cut out the errors that in the end cost them just as much as referee Craig Joubert’s howlers did, and - why not? - to become a world-class team. Because that was a world-class performance at Twickenham, and once you know you’ve got it in you, your confidence soars.

Before then, Scotland had had a good World Cup, a lively campaign, but one in which glimpses of grandeur were accompanied by some all-too-frequent failings. On paper, they over-achieved, by getting ahead of the second seeds, Samoa, to finish runners-up in Pool B. In reality, by reaching the quarter-finals they did no more than what was expected of them.

In fact, let’s play devil’s advocate here and offer a negative reading of how Cotter’s team fared in the pool. They beat a Japanese team who had had only four days to recover from the physical and emotional exhaustion of pulling off the greatest upset in World Cup history. They were ragged for spells in the first half against a United States team who have gone backwards in the past couple of years.

They then played decently in defeat by South Africa, to go on to a meeting with Samoa that was always expected to be the decider. That match, against a nation whose population is less than 200,000, was won by three points. With all the resources and expertise available to Scottish Rugby, that was the least we should expect.

True, such a reading glosses over so many good things about Scotland’s performance, but in essence it is true. The Samoa game was always going to be close, and after months in training camp preparing for the campaign, Scotland had just enough to see them through.

Of course, the crucial factor omitted by that downbeat analysis - one that cannot be acknowledged by a mere recitation of results - is the improvement in the four pool matches. It was offset at times by mistakes, but there was enough progress in those games to give Scotland the confidence to take on the Wallabies. The pool became a platform.

The game against Australia still had plenty imperfections, but provided further proof of the development of a team that remains some way short of its prime. The Edinburgh front row of Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and WP Nel has only been together at Test level for a few months, and could easily stay as a unit for four or five years. Jonny Gray, who leads the tackle count for the whole tournament, is only 21, and could be a fixture for far longer, whether alongside his older brother Richie or Grant Gilchrist.

The future shape of the back row could depend on how Cotter really sees Blair Cowan - whether as much a six as a seven, as he said the other day, or rather as a genuine openside. If the former, Cowan and John Hardie could start many more games together, with David Denton between them at No 8.

It is not that long ago since Denton appeared to have become a marginal figure in the squad - one who did not do his talent justice often enough. Under Cotter, however, he has not only rediscovered his early promise, but surpassed it.

Behind the scrum, Greig Laidlaw, who turned 30 last week, may not stay in the international game all the way through to the next World Cup in Japan four years hence, but he should be around for another season or two at least. He, too, has matured significantly under Cotter, and since regaining the captaincy has become an inspiring leader.

Stuart Hogg, Mark Bennett and Finn Russell are 23, 22 and 23 respectively. They should be around for the rest of the decade and beyond.

At the end of a draining and disappointing game, it is often tempting to want to forget about sport for a while. But since Sunday evening, it feels like the Six Nations cannot come round fast enough.