Alex Grove, the Worcester Warriors centre, celebrated his first full cap for Scotland with a solid performance at outside centre which led his coach to single him out for a special mention after the game.
"The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck as we walked up the tunnel", said a clearly delighted Groves afterwards, still brimming with the excitement of the occasion. "But I was determined not to let it affect my game and I don't think it did perhaps because the team had been announced well in advance."
Groves was in the action early. bth with ball in hand and a part of generally well disciplined Scottish tackling game. "I was conscious of trying to get into the game early" he said." It's hard to get the ball to the outside channels in an international so I had to get some hits in.
"They hit us hard but I like to think I got a few good hits in and got my own back."
Generally, it is the pace of internationals that debutants talk about most of all. But Groves took a differrent line. "It was more the physicality of the contact. I tried a little dummy early on and got hit hard. I was a little bit dazed for a moment. It was like 'Welcome to international rugby!'"
For Richie Vernon, the Glasgow Warriors back row forward, it was more a question of whether he would get on at all for his first cap, having been warming the bench all afternoon. "They told me to get ready to go on about ten minutes before the end," he said. "But then there was a long passage of play and I was looking at the clock thinking I'm never going to get on."
But in the end he replaced Glasgow team-mate and try scorer Johnnie Beattie for just long enough to get involved in a ruck and get his kit dirty. For him it was enough. "I was just delighted to get on" he said - and then looked forward with some confidence to the next game. "We've got a lot of good back row forwards in Glasgow and Edinburgh at the moment" he said. "I think we can take them [the Australians] on."
Kyle Traynor, the Edinburgh hooker and remaining debutant on the bench, also got some game time as coach Andy Robinson used all his substitutes in the later stages of the game.
