Scotland coach Matt Williams insisted - for the second week running - that the scoreline in defeat by Australia did not fairly reflect his side's play. "Our players have come on leaps and bounds," he said after the 34-13 defeat in Sydney in the second Test.
"That is a very good Australian side who came second in the world.
"They played very good rugby, good rugby with the ball in hand, good rugby in defence against an extremely talented side."
Scotland conceded five tries at Telstra Stadium, but Williams rued the final 90 seconds, when his side failed to convert constant pressure into points and then conceded a last-gasp score to Joe Roff.
It was Scotland's 13th consecutive defeat to the Wallabies over 22 years but arguably the best performance since Williams took charge after the World Cup.
"I'm very disappointed for the boys because we should have scored there and 29-20 was a fair reflection," said Williams. "I am very disappointed with that final scoreline. I believe we played better than that. It doesn't reflect the difference between the sides.
"We generally defended very well but missed some absolutely crucial tackles in our 22.
"We made lots and lots of line breaks. I thought our game plan was good, I thought our guys executed it with great passion and precision and, when we got to within five metres of the Wallabies tryline, we made some basic errors, a bit of white-line fever."
Scotland were outscored by five tries to one, with scrum-half Chris Cusiter the only one to touch down in either of the two Tests. Forwards coach Todd Blackadder said: "The big lesson learnt as a team, through experience, is when we get to the 22 is to be composed and prepared to stay there.
"We get down to the green zone and turn it over and spend lots of time defending. You can't win Test matches like that.
"We need to show more confidence and composure to put pressure on the opponent until we score points.
"We probably forced it a little bit. Through all this pain we will learn some pretty quick lessons."
MMIX
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Scotland played well, defended very well and attacked the breakdown extremely well 