One game gone, one no-frills win in the bag. Scotland's new coach Andy Robinson will march his troops into battle against much sterner southern hemisphere opposition next weekend looking to take a bit more of the nation and its opinion-formers with him.

According to the message coming from the Scotland camp, Robinson is on something of a crusade to get the country behind his side. However, fewer than 22,000 made it to Murrayfield for the dawn of the new era yesterday and Robinson was clearly nonplussed at his reception after the victory.

Faced with a media audience more used to failure, the former England coach, who knows a thing or two about being glum, felt the need for a bit of cheer-leading: "There's an interesting feeling in here," he told his audience of long faces. "That was a very, very good performance. We've beaten quality opposition and we've beaten them comfortably. We should have smiles on our faces. Let's enjoy the win. Let's enjoy the moment and look to next Saturday against Australia."

Robinson might have been overstating the quality of a Fijian opposition which started with five debutants and had four more on the bench, and possibly the size of the comfort zone between the sides, but the coach had a point and one that had been made for him five minutes earlier by Mike Brewer, one of the men he beat for the title of Scotland's head coach.

Back in the summer, when Frank Hadden was shown the door by the SRU, Brewer was Scotland's forwards coach and banged in an application for promotion only to be knocked back when Robinson expressed interest. He is now working with Fiji, and when asked if he had noticed any difference between Robinson's Scotland and the team he and Hadden coached, the former All Black was brutally honest: "Well they won," he conceded before spoiling the show of magnanimity by adding: "It's exactly what we expected of them. Robbo made it pretty clear that he intended to play a pretty structured game.

"They are pretty methodical and will have to improve if they are going to beat the big boys, but they will be happy with their work today. That is what Andy is good at. He set out a plan to beat us, but it's not going to beat the big boys."

Which was more or less the judgment of Robinson, who estimated that his side would have to improve about 15% for a second win and another jump up the world rankings before facing Argentina in the last of the autumn internationals. However, by yesterday evening Scotland had jumped over Fiji into ninth place in the IRB rankings and a new side – 10 changes from the last team Hadden fielded – were in pretty good order.

Any pack that Robinson fields is always going to be physical and Scotland bossed the scrum all day, sealing the win 11 minutes into the second half with a couple of mighty heaves that sent Fiji backwards. The pack might have been looking to keep the ball to themselves, but the new captain Chris Cusiter whipped it to Phil Godman and thanks to a lucky glitch in referee Chris White's vision, Graeme Morrison took the rebound off Sean Lamont to go over under the posts.

That one move highlighted a lot of what Robinson has been building; a muscular pack, a new captain unafraid to make decisions and a physical back line with a rare Scottish penchant for tries. Of the new boys, centre Alex Grove suffered some bruising from the Fijian rush defence before dishing out punishment of his own, and Moray Low, cornerstone of the Scottish pack, had a few early carries to suggest that when Euan Murray returns Robinson will have scrummaging strength in depth.

He may even surprise a few Australians on Saturday. After suffering a few damp days in Scotland, Fiji's head coach Glen Ella, once a Wallabies coach and a member of that famous Australian rugby family, conceded: "We're not good mud runners. If it's wet you stand a chance."

Scotland R Lamont (Toulon, Paterson, Edinburgh 63); S Lamont (Scarlets), Grove (Worcester), Morrison (Glasgow), Danielli (Ulster); Godman (Edinburgh), Cusiter (Glasgow, capt, Blair, Edinburgh 63, De Luca, Edinburgh 77); Jacobsen (Edinburgh, Traynor, Edinburgh 63), Ford (Edinburgh, Hall, Glasgow, 69), Low (Glasgow), Hines (Leinster), Kellock (Glasgow), Strokosch (Gloucester, White, Clermont Auvergne), Beattie (Glasgow), Barclay (Glasgow).

Tries Beattie , Morrison. Cons Godman 2. Pens Godman 3.

Fiji Matavesi (Exeter, Ratu, Cagimaira 74); Goneva (Vatura, Roko, Yokogawa 76), Lovobalavu (Toulon), Bai (Clermont Auvergne, capt), Nalaga (Clermont Auvergne); Little (Bath), Rauluni (Saracens, Vatuvoka, Duavata 71); Yalayalatabua (Navy), Veikoso (Mavoci, S Ledua FTG 70), Manu (Scarlets), Lewaravu (London Welsh), Rawaqa (World Fighting Bulls), Domolailai (Lomavata, Bola, Police 22), Qera (Gloucester), Boko (Tau).

Try Goneva. Con Little. Pens Little.

Referee Chris White (Eng). Attendance 21,826.