As we reached for the record books for all the wrong reasons once more, the latest Scottish thrashing at the hands of South Africa evoked more than a few memories.

Not least because, midway through yesterday's one-sided affair, we were graced with an appearance by arguably the finest player ever to represent the Springboks as Joost van der Westhuizen, tormentor of Scotland in both 1994 and 1998, took centre stage at Murrayfield once more.

It would serve as a reminder of human frailty, since the once irrepressible force of nature now finds himself wheelchair-bound and battling against the effects of Motor Neuron Disease. It is one of the most brutal of terminal illnesses.

There are things which even the man who sliced down Jonah Lomu time after time, while inspiring South Africa to their momentous World Cup win on their first appearance in the tournament in 1995, cannot overcome.

What price sporting calamity in the face of that, then? Even when you consider the lengthy treatment undergone by Francois Louw for a neck injury towards the end of his side's win at Murrayfield - after which the flanker gave a thumbs up as he left the field on a stretcher - the on-field events really were not that big a deal.

Even so, it was another day which brought to mind the worst of all of Scotland's rugby meetings against the South Africans. That was when the Scots suffered their all-time record defeat - 68-10 in a match at Murrayfield in 1997.

That day, as this correspondent left the empty stadium, the post-match press conferences completed, I bumped into Bill McLaren, who offered his opinion on what he had seen. "I haven't felt like this leaving Murrayfield since the day South Africa beat us 44-0 here," he said, harking back to 1951 and the days of three point tries.

What the late, great "voice of rugby" would have made of yesterday's effort is clearly impossible to gauge, but one was reminded yesterday that Reg Prophit, another fondly remembered commentator on this sport, used to say that Scotland had been lucky to get nil that afternoon in 1951.

It is rare to see an international rugby team denied a score, particularly on their home turf. Even in spite of Scotland's attacking ineptitude of recent years, the record books showed that this was the first time in more than six years that they had been shut out. That came when Frank Hadden, Scotland's then coach, opted wisely to field what was effectively a second team for that 40-0 defeat by the All Blacks.

With that in mind then, perhaps the more relevant comparison to be made is between yesterday's defeat and the 31-0 loss suffered by a full strength side against France close to a decade ago.

In assessing just how big the gulf was between the sides yesterday, perhaps the most telling observation came from Scott Johnson, Scotland's head coach, when he praised the quality of his side's defending. "It's a funny thing to say when you've conceded four tries, but with the amount of possession they had that game could have gone down a further path, if you like," he said.

It was a curious thing to be praising his men for, while it was also rather odd that he chose to focus on positives in Scotland's lineout performance. Their failures in that aspect of the performance handed the opposition the initiative in the first quarter of the match, when the Scots unacceptably lost five on their own throw-ins.

In terms of that bad start, Johnson also pointed towards a key area that emerged from that part of the game. "We don't have to be rocket scientists to work out that they are a pretty good mauling team. We'll see a bit of them again over the next couple of years, so it's something we'll be working on," said the coach.

"We want to have a setpiece and a platform we can play off and we want to start well. That's obvious, that's spoken about, that will be one of [the things that need to be improved]. The contact area too is an area we'll have to work on. It's probably the same mantra I've been saying for six months. It'll be the same on Tuesday. We'll say the same thing."

Yet in analysing Johnson's utterances it is tempting to recall a famous phrase from another scientific field which perhaps offers some cause for concern for Scotland. In particular, it seems most relevant to those players who believe they can progress to become a match for the South Africans by the time they meet them again the World Cup in 2015.

It refers, of course, to the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. What chance Scotland get the message this time?