Gregor Townsend has warned none of the Scotland players who faced New Zealand are certain of their place in the team to face Australia next weekend after falling well short of the level he expects from his side.
Townsend's side were competitive in the opening 40 minutes but fell away badly after the break as the All Blacks stormed to a 43-21 victory to preserve their unbeaten record against Scotland in Test rugby.
And the Scotland boss was clear that he was disappointed with the performance, stating "a lot" of his squad did not deliver their best.
"We'll have good analysis of the players' performances and obviously the team's performance and what we do next week because we have high standards, high expectations of the team.
"We believe they can deliver them but if they can't, there are other players in the squad that can come in and do a job."
"As players and coaches, we know we are capable of better than that. We didn’t deliver our best performance against New Zealand, that was clear.
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"We do have a lot of depth in our squad at the moment. Every time you play for Scotland and you wear that jersey, you have to deliver.
"A lot of players didn’t deliver their best against New Zealand. Will they get another chance to go again next week? That’s a decision we’ll have to look at over the next few days.
Townsend said he would have to consider whether to give the group that faced the All Blacks a chance to put right that performance against the Wallabies.
"We will obviously weigh-up the fact it's the first Test match of the season. How much of that was a lack of cohesion and how much would the same group benefit from going again next week?
"But then you've got people that have been training really well and are putting their hands up for selection. So, in terms of making changes, we will see. "
Townsend acknowledged he must strike a balance between finding the cohesion required to compete at Test level, while also holding players accountable for an ill-disciplined performance.
Scotland conceded 13 penalties, including eight in a row in the second half, as they handed attacking chances to a resurgent All Blacks side.
"You are always striving for cohesion. We’ve certainly had cohesion recently, both in terms of performances and also in training.
"We weren’t good enough at the weekend. We were too inaccurate and our discipline also wasn’t good enough." And in a warning shot to the whole squad, Townsend stressed no player is guaranteed their place in the side.
"No player is undroppable. Everyone knows that. It is a massive privilege to play for your country, but it’s also a professional sport. We need to pick the team we believe can win the match against Australia.
"A lot of the guys who played against New Zealand have also been part of some big victories for us in the past. That will be taken into account."
That will include Finn Russell, who was removed with 18 minutes to go and was not injured against New Zealand.
The mercurial fly-half had a difficult afternoon on his 100th Test cap, aside from a couple of wonderful passes that put Huw Jones clear in the first half.
Russell has admitted himself that Bath's attack has not functioned as he would have liked over the start of the season, but Townsend played down any concerns over his star man's form.
"I actually think Finn has been fine for Bath over the first few weeks of the season, but it wasn’t his best game against New Zealand. He will know that himself.
"He will be disappointed and he will definitely want to put that right next week. He’s been very, very good for us over a long period. He will want to show that against Australia."
Scotland's record try-scorer Darcy Graham will be in contention for a return against the Wallabies having missed the All Blacks match.
The Edinburgh winger has endured an injury-hit start to the season but trained fully in the build-up to the New Zealand match and could come into Townsend's thinking after a difficult day for Jamie Dobie.
"Darcy has been training and will be back in the mix for next weekend. There’s real competition in that back three, but I’ll probably look at every player to be honest.
"You either get a chance to go again and show what you can do, or someone else will come in and take your place."
After starting their autumn with such a disappointment, Scotland now face a must-win clash with the Wallabies next Sunday.
"It’s a game we need to win," Townsend added
‘We're playing at home. We definitely want to be better than we showed against New Zealand. If we want to finish in the top three [of the Nations Championship], then we've clearly got to win our next two games.
"We expect a tough Test match for sure. Our performance against New Zealand wouldn't be good enough to win against Australia, so we we're going to have to be better."
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