The scoreline may have been as convincing as many expected but it was far from a straightforward Test for Scotland who were rocked at times by a hard running Portugal side who were well worth their 21 points.
However, Scotland were by far the better side and put their opponents to the sword to rack up 59 points with some excellent tries thrown in the mix. It set’s them up nicely for their final Autumn Nations Series Test with Australia next week.
Portugal got some early possession and looked to spread play but Scotland turned it over and had the opening try within four minutes. After winning the penalty and subsequent line-out, they drove up to the line and it was Will Hurd who eventually got over in the corner for his first Scotland try.
The visitors certainly looked to pose a threat and Scotland had to be on alert but a careless pass by scrum-half Samuel Marques handed it straight to skipper Stafford McDowall who strolled in from 22 yards for an easy finish. That had to sting for Portugal as they showed in the following 20 minutes that they were prepared to fight hard and front up and Scotland were not finding it easy to break their resilient defensive line.
They couldn't keep holding on against the hosts forever though and eventually too many penalties in the 22 cost them and referee Takehito Namekawa was under the posts for the penalty try after illegally bringing down the Scotland maul with lock Duarte Torgal the man sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Portugal were still fronting up but the penalties were hurting them and after stealing a line out they could only clear as far as George Horne who got it to Darcy Graham and the winger stepped three players to slice through the gap and round a fourth for the try which took him joint top of Scotland's all time try scoring charts alongside Duhan van der Merwe.
Then came a terrific team try that was finished off in the corner by Josh Bayliss just before Torgal returned from the sin bin in time for Hastings to convert a difficult kick well and make the score 33-0 just before half time. Portugal were able to pull something back before the break though with a line out in the corner which was brought down well and hooker Luka Begic eventually coming blind to barge over the line and Marques adding the extra two.
It's a scoreline that certainly didn't flatter the hosts but the points weren't coming easy either and they were either having to work hard or capitalise on individual errors to get over.Scotland were right back at it after the break and another slack pass let George Horne intercept but the scrum half was caught and just a few phases later Jamie Bhatti burrowed over in the corner for the first score of the second half.
Portugal weren't about to give up though and pulled back another try with Marques picking the ball up at the back of a five meter scrum and slipping inside George Horne and under the posts before converting his own try to make it 38-14. Arron Reed was a player who had looked eager to get involved as much as he can and was a willing runner and he was rewarded for his determination with a quick fire brace, scoring in the same corner twice inside five minutes both classic wingers finishes with hard and fast runs to the corner after good built up play.
The introduction of the bench felt like it might give Scotland a bit more gas to put the cherry on top of the game but it was Portugal who hit back, capitalising on a mistake at the line out and then slicing through the Scotland defense too easily with winger Raffaele Storti going over and Marques adding the extras.Scotland closed in on the 60 point mark when substitute scrum half Jamie Dobbie finished from close range and Tom Jordan converted.
They couldn't get passed that though and a tough test ended in a comfortable scoreline even if it wasn't always a comfortable game.

1. Scotland players celebrate Will Hurd scoring the first try of the match in the win over Portugal. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)
Scotland players celebrate Will Hurd's first try of the match in the win over Portugal. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group) | SNS Group / SRU

2. Jamie Bhatti
Bagged his first international try on his 35th Scotland appearance, plunging over from close range after good work by Horne. Solid outing from the loosehead. 6/10 | AFP via Getty Images

3. Patrick Harrison
The Edinburgh hooker had one promising run in the first half but struggled at times with his lineout throwing in what was only his third Scotland outing. 6 | SNS Group / SRU

4. Will Hurd
Like fellow prop Bhatti, Hurd managed to score his first Scotland try, crashing over early on. The scrum looked better with the Leicester tighthead on the field. 7 | SNS Group / SRU