Byron McGuigan and Scotland hammer Australia after Sekope Kepu’s red

Scotland have been threatening to produce a devastating performance like this for some time. The only surprise is that it came against Australia, with whom they have fought out some close contests in recent years, and that it was produced in the absence of Stuart Hogg, man of the match a week ago in the narrow defeat by the All Blacks and the player who has epitomised the team’s attacking virtues over the past couple of seasons.

That the Wallabies conceded eight tries – having never previously conceded more than three in the fixture – was due in large part to the dismissal a minute before half-time of Sepoke Kepu, as Gregor Townsend admitted. Nonetheless, the Scotland coach also pointed out that it had by no means been one-way traffic after the break and was rightly pleased by the way his team rammed home their advantage to end up with their largest ever points total against a Tier One nation.

The Wallabies were 12-10 up when Kepu was shown the red card for diving off his feet at a ruck and smashing his head into that of Hamish Watson. This having fought back from 10-0 down with two tries scored by Tevita Kuridrani and created by Bernard Foley.

Scotland had gone into double figures through a Finn Russell penalty and the first of two tries by Byron McGuigan, who had been promoted to the starting line-up when Sean Maitland moved to full-back to cover for Hogg.

In the minute of the first half that remained they regained the lead with Ali Price just making it over the line off the back of a lineout maul after Russell had kicked the penalty against Kepu to touch.

Any notion that the score and the dismissal had definitively put Scotland in the driving seat was dispelled shortly after the restart when relentless Australian pressure eventually paid off as Kurtley Beale crossed the line for an unconverted try. That sluggish beginning to the half by the home side was soon shaken off, however, in a three-try, 10-minute spell that established control.

Maitland scored first, racing clear of some sluggish cover defence from halfway after the Wallabies had coughed up the ball in midfield. Jonny Gray then crossed after an excellent break by the replacement Jamie Bhatti and Huw Jones completed the scoring burst, gathering a Price pass from a tap penalty and proving too fast for an increasingly flat-footed defence.

The departure of Stephen Moore, who had announced that this game would be his last as a professional, produced a rare moment of sympathy for Australia from the home crowd. But that was the briefest of pleasurable moments for the visitors and within a minute McGuigan scored again, squeezing in at the corner as Scotland once more made excellent use of the extra man.

If there is one obvious flaw in Scotland’s commitment to all-out attack under Townsend, it is the susceptibility in defence that so often follows. That was in evidence a fortnight ago against Samoa, who scored five tries but conceded six and although the defence was far tighter against New Zealand, the team’s ultra-adventurous approach is still clearly a work in progress.

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In normal circumstances, putting half a dozen tries on Australia should have been enough to wrap the game up, but when Lopeti Timani scored from a lineout drive there were still 10 minutes to go, and Scotland were reminded that they had not quite completed the job.

Fortunately for them, they have the fitness required to keep going at real pace for 80 minutes and they resumed the attack desperate to deliver the coup de grâce. They did so within five minutes with their captain, John Barclay, barging over at the end of a sustained siege.

That put the half-century within Scotland’s reach and they got there in the final play of the game after Beale was shown a yellow card for deliberately playing the ball out of play with his hand. The penalty was kicked to the corner and hooker Stuart McInally, one of the revelations of the Autumn Test series, scored off the back of the lineout.

That gave Scotland their biggest score against the Wallabies, for whom this has not been the happiest of tours. Their victory against the All Blacks last month must feel like a lifetime ago.

For Scotland, the atmosphere of this month’s three home games has verged on the delirious. Townsend’s aim of having them playing the fastest-tempo rugby in the world is beginning to pay dividends faster than many believed possible and the squad’s strength in depth has markedly improved. There is a lot of work to be done between now and the Six Nations Championship, but they can at least go into that tournament full of the coach’s favourite emotion: optimism.