In the end they got the best of a record-breaking try-fest at BT Murrayfield, but as this current squad become the latest to make their bid for history by becoming the first Scotland team to beat New Zealand’s All Blacks, Saturday’s autumn Test opener provided more evidence of what they have to work on than cause for confidence.

While Scotland should be scoring six tries against the world’s 16th ranked team they know they should not be conceding five, but rather than worry unduly about the fact that their opponents scored so frequently from the positions they got into as these teams registered a Murrayfield Test best 82 points, the greater cause for concern was surely that they were repeatedly allowed to get into areas in which it felt inevitable that scores would come. That impression was justified pretty much every time the Samoans entered what is sometimes referred to as ‘the red zone’, these powerful, quick-footed men proving almost impossible to hold out at that range. Factor in the ability of next Saturday’s opponents to score from anywhere on the pitch off line breaks or turnovers - as the All Blacks have previously done on days when Scottish teams have denied them possession for long periods – and a very difficult day could loom.

Saturday was all the more frustrating because, whereas rustiness is an over-used excuse, Scotland could not use it with any conviction given the situations they found themselves in at the start of both halves.

A first try registered in little more than 90 seconds would normally be deemed ideal in itself. That the move was sparked by the work of their one debutant afield, prop Darryl Marfo, in stealing turnover possession and was finished by crowd favourite Stuart Hogg should only have given them an even bigger lift. Yet over the next half hour the neutral observers that Gregor Townsend, Scotland’s coach, rightly said would have lapped up the entertainment, might have been a bit confused.

Was it, they might have wondered, the team in white shirts or blue that had been on a previous tour with its current management, or was on its first campaign with them? Which had enjoyed two weeks together and which just a few days? Which had the advantage of fielding cohesive club units to short-cut the work they needed to do to generate understanding and which was a new-look team drawn together from disparate places? Which was packed with Test experience and which had only two men who had accrued more than 20 caps, nine of them yet to reach double figures in terms of appearances? On all counts Scotland should have held a significant advantage, but did not make it count for long periods.

Their coaches want them to run opponents off the pitch and in the likes of Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Ali Price and Huw Jones - who scored their second try in typically stylish fashion - they have considerable strike-running weaponry. However rugby remains principally about acquisition and retention of possession and at times they struggled badly on both counts. When they got it right they were able to dominate the Samoans either side of half-time, a period which produced half of their tries, two of those - both scored by Stuart McInally - providing a reminder of what invariably happens in rugby union when a better drilled pack gets the chance to set up a close range driving maul.

Unfortunately, as Townsend’s former club Glasgow Warriors have discovered this season when trying and failing to step up from the Pro14 in which they are unbeaten to the intensity of European rugby, that can work both ways and who holds the upper hand is reliant on forward knowhow, which is the context in which the injury suffered by Willem Nel must be seen. In the tighthead, hookers Ross Ford and Fraser Brown and looseheads Gordon Reid, Ali Dickinson and Allan Del, Scotland will have a combined 252 caps of experience sidelined on Saturday. The six players set to be on duty – Darryl Marfo, Jamie Bhatti, Stuart McInally, George Turner, Zander Fagerson and Simon Berghan – have 29 among them, half of them having debuted on Saturday.

All of which only emphasises the need for Scotland to treat their 22 metre line almost as if it is their try-line and that, in particular, involves attending urgently to the lapses in concentration on re-starts that gifted field position to their opponents and the handling errors that were mostly attributable to carelessness in delivery or receipt of passes.

The hope had been on Saturday that, ahead of next week’s encounter a team would set itself up by dominating inferior opponents, absorb their best shots then ruthlessly put them away. That happened, but the venue was Stade de France rather than Murrayfield, where, as compared with Scotland’s 32-10 lead four minutes into the second half, the All Blacks led France 31-5 at the interval before having a comeback to contend with.

The way they limited what damage a France side that is far superior to Samoa was able to inflict, then re-asserted themselves in the closing stages was just one more demonstration of what it takes to be the world’s best. By contrast Scotland desperately needed the final quarter tries from Alex Dunbar and Peter Horne - capitalising on a suspiciously forward looking pass, that twice got them two scores in front of Samoa in the closing stages, only to be pegged back both times.