Scotland 3 - 49 New Zealand: No positives to take from crushing loss

The long wait for a win over New Zealand just got longer. Events at Twickenham suggested that the north/south divide has narrowed of late but sadly the gulf in class between the two teams at Murrayfield was of Grand Canyon proportions.

• Long white cloud of gloom for Scots: Dan Carter weaves his magic, left, as he starts yet another All Black move photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

If it wasn't exactly the same old story it was only because the Scots were markedly worse than usual. There wasn't a single aspect of this game where the home players were the equal of their opponents, never mind the superior, and, after the heroics in Dublin and Argentina, the disappointment was that much harder to bear for being unexpected.

With the All Blacks fielding all their big guns, the Scots were always going to struggle but few predicted a collapse on this sort of scale.

That new-found "respect" for Scottish rugby that Graham Henry displayed in playing his strongest XV proved a double-edged sword and the lesson of the day was: be careful what you wish for. The home side weren't so much rusty as awestruck. They offered their illustrious visitors all the time and space in the world to do pretty much as they pleased and the Kiwis were far too polite to decline the generous invitation.

When the Scots weren't chasing shadows they were being bumped off tackles and they lacked anything like the accuracy that they needed to threaten the New Zealand defence with the ball in hand. All too often one or two forwards were left patrolling the wide open spaces as Scotland threw bodies into the rucks and Allan Jacobsen up against Sonny Bill Williams is not a contest of equals. At the breakdown, the Scots have to learn to box much smarter because the Kiwi forwards produced clean ball with all the speed of a Shanghai sweatshop and the Scottish backs looked hopelessly wooden and predictable which will only add to Gregor Townsend's sleepless nights. Furthermore, Alasdair Dickinson still isn't a Test tighthead.

Scotland v New Zealand: The facts and analysis

• Tom English: Progress shudders to a halt

• Richard Bath: A masterclass from the legend of Otago

• The unending wait for a win

• Captain warms to Sonny Bill Williams

• How they played: Scotland

• How they played: New Zealand

Few players will escape the wrath of coach Andy Robinson over the next few days but on the plus side at least Hugo Southwell enjoyed a couple of useful canters from full-back. Mike Blair did some much-needed covering work until he was helped to the sidelines following a bang on the head two minutes before the break which meant a debut for the popular Greig Laidlaw. Richie Gray put in a defensive shift, Ross Rennie won his second cap two years and one chronic knee injury after his first and Ruaridh Jackson livened things up when he replaced Parks late in the game with one sublime flick out the back of his hand that almost put John Barclay away. Beyond that the Scottish coaches will be hard pressed to find any positives from the wreckage of this particular car crash.

If the opening exchanges were encouraging for Scotland, as they took an early lead with a Parks penalty, what followed was anything but. The one thing the home team could not afford to do was allow the All Blacks to get on the front foot with some early scores and that is exactly what happened – not once, but four times in the opening half, three of them coming between the ninth and 19th minutes to deal Scottish hopes a hammer blow. A piper stuck a tune late in the first 40 – the only surprise is that it wasn't a lament.

The opening try came from an attacking scrum when Williams broke the Scots' defensive line with alarming ease. Rory Lamont tackled the big centre who was still able to give a beautifully soft one-handed offload for Hosea Gear to go under the posts. No.2 went to Dan Carter after Graeme Morrison was stripped in contact and the ball was moved up the blindside. Blair did the needful on Isaia Toeava but the Scots ran out of defenders when the ball went inside to the Kiwi fly-half. If the second score hadn't kyboshed Scottish spirits, the ease with which New Zealand grabbed the third one surely did.

The Kiwis won a free kick at a scrum and once again moved the ball to the blind side where the numbers allowed Carter to act as provider, this time with full-back Mils Muliaina the grateful recipient. When Gear strolled over for his second try, and New Zealand's fourth, on 27 minutes the atmosphere in Murrayfield was understandably funereal. The only response came in the form of a Mexican Wave which at least suggests the crowd had retained their sense of humour even if they had lost interest in events on the field.

The second half picked up where the first had left off with Muliaina grabbing his second try of the evening from another Williams' assist.

Henry took this as his cue to re-introduce flyhalf Stephen Donald into international waters after his horror show in Hong Kong and he couldn't have picked a friendler environment with his team over the hill and out of sight. Owen Franks, Richie McCaw, Brad Thorn and Jimmy Cowan all followed Carter to the sidelines. The New Zealanders' new-found respect for Scottish rugby proved fairly short-lived and who can blame him on this showing?

The home side did enjoy some time on the front foot in the third quarter, setting up camp inside the New Zealand 22 and enjoying a period of pressure without ever looking like scoring that elusive try.

Instead the five pointers came at the other end of the field with Smith and Andy Ellis rubbing salt in the Scottish wounds with tries number six and seven. Max Evans finished the match on a stretcher after suffering what looked like a serious neck injury but turned out to be no more than a "stinger". The referee wasn't to know and, with just over a minute left on the clock, he wisely called time on the slaughter.

Robinson's men performed well below expectations and just how they react next Saturday against South Africa will go a long way towards defining this group of players.

Scorers: Scotland: Pen: Parks. New Zealand: Tries: Gear 2, Carter, Muliaina 2, Smith, Ellis. Cons: Carter 5, Donald 2.

Scotland: H Southwell; R Lamont (N Walker 40), M Evans, G Morrison, S Lamont; D Parks (R Jackson 67), M Blair (Laidlaw 38); A Jacobsen, R Ford (S Lawson 64), E Murray (A Dickinson 65), R Gray, J Hamilton (N Hines 40), K Brown (Rennie 64), J Barclay, R Vernon.

New Zealand: M Muliaina; I Toeava, C Smith, SB Williams, H Gear; D Carter (S Donald 52), J Cowan (A Ellis 58); T Woodcock, H Elliot (A Hore 61), O Franks (J Afoa 53), B Thorn (A Boric 57), S Whitelock, L Messam, R McCaw (D Braid 57), K Read.

Referee: Dave Pearson (England). Attendance: 56,807.