New Zealand 69... SCOTLAND20

The lessons were clear and they were understood, but whether Scotland have the capacity to learn from any of them seemed unlikely after being completely ripped apart by what looks a magnificent All Blacks side on Saturday.

They know they must tackle better and cannot afford to turn possession over as they did at Dunedin's Carisbrook. Those ills can be remedied.

However having it demonstrated to you that the way to win Test rugby matches is to be able to seize upon every opportunity, is only of any value if you have players capable of doing so.

Saturday's evidence was that this current Scotland side will never beat their New Zealand counterparts at their own game because the weapons simply do not exist for them to play that way.

Indeed, except when, John Leslie, the one man who seems capable of getting the best out of the side, is available to accompany Scotland's most dangerous attacker, there is now a compelling case for omitting Gregor Townsend altogether.

To be competitive at this level, Scotland must play a form of rugby which minimises the risk of losing the ball and which is as defensively sound as it can be, which means selecting the best at playing that way.

Some encouragement, though, came from the composed, intelligent assessment of what had happened by younger members of the team.

Desperately disappointed and briefly demoralised, they were determined to react the right way, no-one epitomising that better than Ross Beattie, the No.8 who, with replacement lock Iain Fullarton, was one of two new caps on display.

From a 22-year-old who had just been through such an experience and who also revealed that the first 20 minutes had been something of a blur after he took a knock to his eye early on, the analysis was remarkable.

''It's amazing how you can watch a game while playing it,'' said Beattie.

''The number of knock-ons they made and the errors they made ... they are human, they are normal, they are just like us. It is just that when they made a mistake we didn't have the ability to be as creative as they were.

''When they make mistakes, too, the first thing they do is try to cover it up or get guys in the way so that we can't capitalise.

''We had so much possession, but we knocked on a few times and panicked ... they would then go the length and score.

''There is nothing more demoralising than that as a player, to do the hard work, then make a wee mistake and they score from it. It was unbelievable.

''I've never experienced anything like that.''

Yet he seemed genuine in his belief that Scotland could bridge the gap between the sides in seven days.

''Very much so,'' said Beattie.

''I will have to watch the video of myself, but although it was obviously a little bit faster, I didn't find the pace of it tiring or anything.

''It was just the killer instinct they had. If you make a mistake they will punish you.

''It is almost as if they had a higher level of professionalism than we did today. They are used to it.

''We have said this week that we have to eradicate those errors. It is zero tolerance,'' he said, repeating the expression used by captain Andy Nicol at the post-match press conference.''

He also believed that the final quarter, which Scotland ''won'' 14-10, had shown what could be done.

''Although they may have won the match and eased off, there were definite signs that if we can operate as a team, no team can live with you if you keep the ball for 14 or 15 passes. Eventually a hole will appear,'' said Beattie.

''It's just when we play six, seven, eight passes and then lose the ball, we're not organised, so they find a half gap and bang they're through. We need to work on our ball retention and our first up tackles.''

Scotland's previous Test outing having been the win over the European champions and even taking into account England's defeat of South Africa on Saturday, this was, though, another example of the gulf which exists between the leading countries in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

As several members of Scotland's party readily acknowledged, they were up against players who have learned the need to seize every opportunity in the highly intense environment of Super 12 rugby.

Though much of the damage was ultimately done by the finishers out wide, the measure of the menace the All Blacks have throughout their side, was demonstrated by the fact that forwards scored their first two tries, while hooker Anton Oliver sliced through for the opening score in each half.

His first hinted at what was to come when he picked up from the base of a ruck just outside the 22, broke a tackle and sprinted away from the defence, repeating that at the start of the second.

Even more so than in the final quarter, though, Scotland dominated territorially thereafter, two Duncan Hodge penalties seeing them within a point well into the second quarter, while even after the All Blacks had scored three tries Scotland had claimed a staggering 80 per cent of possession.

Scott Murray's thirty-seventh minute departure - walking out of the tour with damaged ribs - did them no good, but a wonderful counter-attacking score finished by debutant Ron Cribb followed by the first of Jonah Lomu's hat-trick had already put them in deep trouble.

At the interval it was over as a contest as the lethal Tana Umaga impersonated Oliver, making a similar pick-up and almost identically angled run from the far right touchline, round behind the posts.

Andrew Mehrtens' conversion brought him past 600 points in Test rugby and, as in the World Cup quarter-final between these sides, Scotland's second half task was damage limitation.

In the third quarter they failed miserably, abject defensive work allowing Oliver to be followed over too easily by Christian Cullen, Lomu twice more and Pita Alatini.

A wonderful interchange between Alana Ieremia and Umaga put the winger in for his second before Scotland rallied, scoring twice through Richard Metcalfe and replacement Gordon Simpson as the pack drove over from close range penalties.

Even in between those, though, their hosts made something of a statement, rampaging downfield to send replacement Troy Flavell in for the score which made this a record Scotland defeat in terms of both points and tries conceded.

Overall they were not outplayed anything like as badly as by the 1993 All Blacks (51-15) or the 1998 Springboks (68-10).

That, though, was scant consolation for a side many of us had been willing - perhaps foolishly, maybe gullibly and certainly over-optimistically - to believe were actually capable of making history by becoming the first Scotland team to defeat the All Blacks.

This time, though, pride, guts and belief were nothing like enough.

New Zealand - C Cullen (L MacDonald 50); T Umaga, A Iremia, P Alatini, J Lomu; A Mehrtens, B Kelleher; C Hoeft, A Oliver (M Hammett 66), G Somerville (C Dowd 59), T Blackadder, N Maxwell (T Flavell 66), T Randell (J Kronfeld 50), S Robertson, R Cribb

Scotland - C Paterson; C Moir, G Townsend (G Shiel 57), J McLaren (C Joiner 61), S Longstaff; D Hodge, A Nicol capt; T Smith, G Bulloch, B Stewart (M Stewart 71), S Murray (I Fullarton 37), R Metcalfe, J White, M Leslie (G Simpson 61), R Beattie

Referee: S Young (Australia)

Scoring sequence (New Zealand first): 7-0, 7-3, 7-6, 14-6, 19-6, 26-6 (half-time); 33-6, 40-6, 45-6, 52-6, 59-6, 64-6, 64-13, 69-13, 69-20

Scorers: New Zealand - Tries: Oliver (4, 42), Cribb (25), Lomu (27, 55, 60), Umaga (40, 68), Cullen (49), Alatini (58), Flavell (78); Conversons: Mehrtens (4, 25, 40, 42, 49, 58, 60). Scotland - Tries: Metcalfe (76), Simpson (80); Conversions: Hodge (76, 80); Penalties: Hodge (10, 22)