For all the Scotland fans who had grown accustomed to glorious failure against New Zealand over recent years, it was a very different experience at Murrayfield on Saturday afternoon.

There was no sense of what might have been. No sense of a missed opportunity. And certainly no pride to be taken in a performance that fell miles short of what was required.

This was not a close contest. Even when Scotland trailed by only three points at half-time, it was hard to avoid the feeling that they were clinging on rather than actually threatening to win.

What unfolded thereafter was a total demolition. Scotland never scored a point in the second half. The All Blacks stepped on the gas and left Gregor Townsend’s side choking on their exhaust fumes.

By the time we reached the final ten minutes, much of the stadium had emptied. New Zealand had scored seven tries in total and motored on to 43 points.

That they didn’t inflict any further damage and score any more points over those final ten minutes felt like an act of mercy as much as anything.

Too quick, too accurate, too skilful, too powerful; just fundamentally too good for Scotland in every single department.

In one sense, there is no shame in losing to an All Blacks team when they are in this kind of mood. Plenty other nations will suffer a similar fate.

Dave Rennie has revived them and awoken a beast who will be strongly fancied to go all the way in the World Cup next year.

But what will irk Scotland is the fact they made it so easy for them at times. The defence was pitifully soft, allowing the All Blacks easy access into their 22 time and time again.

Scotland were inaccurate in key moments and also ill-disciplined. Throw all of that together and there was no chance of them beating the Kiwis.

The game was effectively over just ten minutes after half-time. The All Blacks had scored another two tries in that period, the second of which came from the evergreen – and effervescent – Beauden Barrett.

The great man is now 35 years of age. He is no longer the boy wonder of the All Blacks but the classy elder statesman who can now boast 50 tries in 148 caps.

Barrett was excellent on Saturday. So, too, was his brother Jordie. Quinn Tupaea? A class act in midfield. Cam Roigard controlled the tempo quite superbly at scrum-half.

Damian McKenzie completely outshone Finn Russell in the battle of the two fly-halves, whilst Will Jordan was comfortably the best winger on the field.

New Zealand had all of the game’s top performers. The only Scotland players who would claim pass-marks were probably Huw Jones, Rory Darge, Ewan Ashman and Gregor Brown.

Jones had a couple of good line breaks in the first half, while Ashman scored a hat-trick of tries. Yet, in a way, the fact that all three of Scotland’s tries were scored by their hooker felt emblematic of how their attack failed to function properly.

Russell had a quiet game by his own high standards, as did Sione Tuipulotu. Kyle Steyn will rue the moment when he dropped a pass out wide on the touchline when he had a chance to score.

Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman were absolutely monstered in the scrum. Jamie Dobie is a multi-skilled rugby player, but whether he’s a Test match winger against the top teams is another question.

Jack Dempsey was miles off it. Normally such a powerful and destructive presence in Scotland’s back row, his lack of rugby since moving to Japan was obvious.

None of the problems which afflicted Scotland on Saturday felt especially new. We have seen them a hundred times before under Townsend.

The head coach will be scrutinised for this. But the players were equally at fault for this defeat. Too many of Scotland’s best players just didn’t turn up.

But what is most concerning is the wider pattern that has emerged with this team, specifically over the past 12 months or so. Quite simply, they are a team who cannot defend.

Lee Radford has now been in position as defence coach for a year, having arrived before the autumn series last year. But his impact has been minimal. The numbers make that clear.

Going back to the Argentina implosion last year, Scotland have been losing tries and points hand over fist.

On average, they have shipped four tries per match over the past 12 months. They are conceding 33 points per game on average.

In no way, shape or form are those numbers conducive to winning high-level Test matches. Even when they beat France, which was probably their best performance of the Townsend era, they still shipped 40 points.

It was 43 against Ireland in Dublin, 38 against Argentina in the summer, 42 against South Africa, another 43 against the All Blacks on Saturday.

There is no hope for a team who are having to score five or six tries and the guts of 40 points just to even give themselves a chance of winning matches.

The top teams pride themselves on defence and know how to grind out results. This is a Scotland team who haemorrhage points and tries at an alarming rate.

With the current coaching staff now set to take us through until the end of the World Cup, it is difficult to see how anything changes.

This is a team who have reached their ceiling under Townsend; capable of playing some thrilling rugby at their very best, but also fundamentally flawed and incapable of taking the next step.

It was pretty clear on Saturday that Townsend was not impressed with what he saw from his players. By and large, it was just a messy error-strewn performance.

With Australia next up at Murrayfield, he would probably be within his rights to drop a few of them. Yet, even if he did, what would actually change?

We know Scotland can beat Australia. They’ve done it on several occasions under Townsend. Just like we know they can beat France.

The bigger questions around this team remain unanswered. The main flaws as yet unresolved. It is difficult to see how Townsend offers the solutions.

He’s been nine years in the job. If he hasn’t been able to fix some of the most basic flaws in Scotland’s make-up by now, namely their consistency and their ability to grind it out, why should anyone believe that will change in the next 12 months moving into the World Cup?