It was the ultimate arm wrestle, almost a locking of horns.

Last weekend's encounter between Scotland and the All Blacks was not even a minute old when Greig Laidlaw rolled the ball into the first scrum, but what happened over the next few seconds was a clear signal that a mighty contest lay in store. As the pressure came in from both sides, the ball lay on the ground untouched, neither side prepared to give an inch or lift a foot in a battle of strength and wills.

From the sidelines, it was an awesome display of strength by both sides. But at the coal face of that scrum, Scotland prop Al Dickinson had a rather different take on things. "I thought I was going to pass out at one point," the loosehead prop recalled. "The ball just seemed to sit there. I'm not sure the referee knew what to do."

As it happened, the French whistler Romain Poite ordered a reset. A few moments later, New Zealand prop Charlie Faumuina hit the deck and Scotland had a penalty. The award meant nothing on the scoreboard, but it was a significant achievement in the minds of the Scottish forwards. First blood to the Scots; first blood, especially, to Dickinson.

Down the years, the lazy caricature of Dickinson has portrayed the 31-year-old Dundonian as a player who could be pretty useful around the park but not so great in the set-piece. Yet the fact he all but ran a chainsaw through the tree-trunk legs of Faumuina spoke volumes of his technique in that area. The New Zealander had an 18kg advantage over the Scot - close to three stones - but it was Dickinson who came out on top.

But then, the Edinburgh prop is well used to starting at a disadvantage. His very first cap, in the 2007 World Cup match against New Zealand at Murrayfield, put him mano-a-mano against Carl Hayman, unquestionably the best tighthead - and arguably the best forward - in world rugby at that time. Dickinson was dwarfed by the 6ft 4in Hayman, but he was certainly not humiliated.

In which light, Dickinson is not particularly concerned by the prospect of getting up close and personal with the 130kg block of ballast that is the Tongan tighthead Sila Puafisi in Kilmarnock this weekend. It is not entirely certain that either he or Puafisi will actually start the last of Scotland's viagogo Autumn Tests series, but Dickinson has long learned how to deal with being the littler guy in a catchweight contest.

"It probably happens every week for me," he said of the scenario of going up against taller and heavier players. "You just try to get lower, be stronger and use the help of the rest of the boys in the scrum. You have to be technically sound and prepared to graft, but that's about as technical as it gets. You obviously have to make sure you concentrate at every scrum.

"There's only so big someone can get. Anyway, I don't tend to look at their weight, I look at their technique, how strong they are and especially how well they work together. You could be 50st and have poor technique and not be that great. With 16st and great technique and strength you can still make them struggle, especially now with the hits being taken away from the scrum."

The renewed emphasis on craft instead of sheer grunt plays into Dickinson's meaty hands. At different points of his career he has been seen only as a back-up player - firstly to Allan Jacobsen, latterly to Ryan Grant - but his performance over the past two weekends have probably been the best he has produced in 37 games for his country. Now settled again at Edinburgh after his six-season exile at Gloucester and Sale, he is happy with his game and what Scotland coach Vern Cotter is asking of him.

"Maybe as you get older you get better," he smiled. "I'm vintage now. I'm just really enjoying my rugby, enjoying playing for Edinburgh as well, so there's a knock on effect.

"It's good to go out and have a go and play. The style suits my game. I like to get the ball in my hands, but a lot of it has come from young guys as well. They've had the confidence to have a go and play rugby.

"Vern's given them the licence to do that. Not all the time, but when they see something's on, then have a go - and the boys are doing that. I think we've responded quite well. One good win against Argentina, a good performance against NZ, and now a tough test this weekend."

Returning to that opening scrum, Dickinson admits that he had never experienced anything like it. "At one point I was trying to blow the ball back," he laughed. "That would have been quite risky because I definitely would have passed out then. It was one of those moments, with both teams wanting to set a marker down, so it was a bit of a stalemate."

Where Scotland did have a clear edge was in the lineout where Scotland had a 100 per cent record, in contrast to their toiling efforts last year. Dickinson puts that success rate down to the rejuvenated form of hooker Ross Ford, who won his first cap more than a decade ago and is expected to win his 80th cap for Scotland on Saturday.

"Fordy's looking pretty good," said the prop of his front-row companion. "The last few games he's been outstanding. Lineout, setpiece, carrying ball, he's like an extra back row. I don't what he's eating, but it's going down pretty well."