Some people seemed surprised by the transformation in Scotland's rugby fortunes from being demolished by New Zealand to beating the South Africans in the space of a week, but they shouldn't have been. Anybody who had watched the Springboks' previous tussles with Ireland and Wales - where they scraped home by two and four points respectively - recognised that they weren't in the same class as the All Blacks, who must be the shortest-odds favourites to lift the World Cup next year in the history of the tournament.

Quite simply, one side boasted the fabulous talents of such star-studded individuals as Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Hosea Gear and Mils Muliaina; the other fielded an ensemble of one-dimensional performers in the mould of Morne Steyn, Zane Kirchner and Jean De Villiers. And they were found wanting when asked to provide a Plan B.

To be honest, their Plan A wasn't that hot either, which leaves one with the questions: was this result down to Scottish courage, commitment and the metronomic kicking of Dan Parks, or were they fortunate to bump into a South African contingent who were nowhere near the quality of the squad which won the World Cup in 2007 and who couldn't adapt to the filthy conditions at Murrayfield, which demanded precision rather than panache?

The answer is probably a combination of both factors, given the string of errors perpetrated by the tourists, whereas Andy Robinson's personnel, intent on a limited but hard-hitting strategy, rallied from the All Black trouncing through sterling contributions from the likes of John Barclay, Graeme Morrison, Euan Murray, Nathan Hines and, of course, Parks, a personality who continues to elicit lukewarm responses from many observers, despite the obvious fact that the Australian-born No 10 has kicked his adopted country to victory on a repeated basis during the last 12 months.

But this latest Scottish success was different from some other recent triumphs. For starters, even while mastering the conditions better than their opponents, the Scots' performance was reminiscent of their footballing counterparts, under Craig Brown, for much of the 1990s. Pawky, passionate, and patriotically inspired to dig deep in defence, it was difficult to recall a single instance when Robinson's troops fashioned any of the occasionally electrifying attacks we have witnessed from England, Wales and Ireland in recent weeks. Yet the bottom line is that the Scots, in their last half-a-dozen Test matches have beaten Ireland, Argentina twice and South Africa and drawn with England. They may not provide lashings of champagne rugby - which perhaps explained the depressing sight of Mexican Waves at Murrayfield during the first half on Saturday - but the SRU's finest are acquiring the habit of finishing with more points than their rivals. Which, ultimately, is all that matters in professional sport.

At any rate, that was how Robinson viewed affairs in the aftermath. "There are many ways to win a game of rugby," said the coach, in a remark, which was eerily similar to that voiced by his predecessor, Frank Hadden, following the Calcutta Cup success over England in 2006, when he declared: "There is more than one way to win a game of rugby."

To a large extent, these pragmatic utterances are exactly what one would expect from coaches who inherited a train wreck from Matt Williams five years and have subsequently restored much of the lost pride to the Caledonian game.

On the one hand, they have developed an aggressive, forward-dominated strategy, and have been blessed with a pair of kickers, in Parks and Chris Paterson, whose penalty/drop goal/conversion statistics are better than anybody else on the international circuit. On the other, the Scots are playing these autumn Tests without a clutch of first-choice players, such as Chris Cusiter, Johnnie Beattie and Al Kellock, whilst Mike Blair and Max Evans were ruled out of the Springbok class and Scott MacLeod will miss this weekend's tussle with Samoa at Pittodrie.

In bygone seasons, such an injury toll might have proved fatal to their chances, but there is a strength in depth now which wasn't in evidence even a decade ago. And the hope has to be that youngsters such as Richie Gray, Joe Ansbro and Richie Vernon continue their progress as the 2011 World Cup looms into view.

However, let's not pretend that Scotland are anywhere near the finished article. On Saturday, Parks landed everything which came his way and - thanks to the indiscipline of the South Africans - kept the scoreboard ticking over by just enough. It wouldn't have been sufficient if Morne and Frans Steyn had taken their earlier penalty opportunities, while the introduction of Patrick Lambie after an hour struck this observer as a crazy decision by the under-pressure Springbok coach, Peter De Villiers.

These Tests often revolve around minute margins and Lambie's squandering of a relatively straightforward conversion attempt made the Scots' job in the closing stages much less fraught than it might otherwise have been. Basically, everything which could have gone right for the home team did so, whilst South Africa were a disjointed, error-strewn rabble. John Allan, the former hooker, who played for both countries, forecast as much in advance when he said that De Villiers' men had been "fantastic" in the first half against Ireland and "pathetic" in the same period against Wales. There were few indications of the latter quality on the third leg of their tour.

None of that should overly detract from Robinson's impressive record thus far in his tenure, but we shouldn't get excessively carried away either. In the forthcoming Six Nations, there will be trips to Paris and London and, barring an improbable turn of events, Scotland will require more than kicks at goal to remain in contention against these two countries. They will need to engineer tries and devise more positive ploys, designed to break down tough-as-teak defences, yet, on the available evidence, they are much better at stopping opponents playing than orchestrating their own mayhem.

With Ireland in decline and Wales in transition, there are good reasons to be confident about the Scots' prospects, when the championship commences in February. But, just as man cannot live by bread alone, so an endless diet of penalties soon begins to pall.