This was the very least that was expected against a side from a minor rugby outpost, and any gloss the Scotland management attempted to put on the performance was quickly tarnished by Portugal's Rohan Hoffman, who said: "This wasn't harder than playing French club sides."

Hoffman, the scorer of his team's solitary try, was speaking from experience: Agen managed 90 points against Portugal this year. "We are used to this type of result," he admitted.

And so the words of Scotland's manager Arthur Hastie that this win had "put the smile back on the face of Scottish rugby" were put into perspective. A crowd of barely 6,000 was testimony to the jaundiced view of the public.

The Scotland coach Jim Telfer, who had not caught the smiling habit, agreed that winning after a barren spell at Murrayfield stretching back 20 months was important for the players. But it was hard to see what benefits could be gleaned from such a woeful mismatch. Defending was Portugal's priority and 13 tries conceded was the result.

Gregor Townsend played at full-back rather than his preferred fly-half position. In a far from resounding endorsement Telfer professed himself "reasonably pleased" with him. Kenny Logan was singled out by the coach for the missed tackle which led to Hoffman's try.

Although this was the biggest day in their rugby history, Portugal rested several key figures for Wednesday's crunch World Cup qualifier against Spain.

Scorers: Scotland: J Leslie 2, Peters, Townsend 2, Mayer 3, Logan 2, C Murray, Bulloch, Pountney tries, Hodge 10 conversions. Portugual: R Hoffman try, drop goal, N Mourao try.