Stuart Hogg – Fairly shackled by his duties at full-back. Couldn’t afford to run into the line due to the danger of the quick turnover. Maturing nicely in the more mundane parts of the fifteen position. Did what was asked of him and occasionally more. One of our best players today. 8.5/10
Sean Maitland – Good game from the Kiwi born winger. Aggressive, accurate and hungry for action. Had a point to prove against his mother country and certainly left an impression on the game with his best display in a Scotland shirt yet. 8/10
Mark Bennett – Injured his hamstring and off for some ice and elevation after 12 minutes. n/a
Alex Dunbar – Finally had a few chances to run with the ball. Looked dangerous albeit in heavy traffic but his real strength is his unyielding tackling. He loves a tackle, loves it. 7.5/10
Tommy Seymour – interception off McCaw to score a famous try. Knocked on straight after then left a huge hole in defence trying to (nearly) intercept another. Generally good though. One of a decent developing Scottish backline. 8/10
Finn Russell – Tackled his heart out to atone for those two missed booms last week. Played well but rookie mistake with the charge down nearly cost us a try. Went off concussed straight after. Came back on and had a great second half. Kicking from hand and offloading a treat to watch. Off again on the hour mark. 7.5/10
Greig Laidlaw – Another solid display from the skipper. Made good decisions both personally and for the team. Kicked impeccably, including a drop-goal conversion early on. Sniped, cover tackled and took on the usual Border scrum-half responsibilities with relish. Subbed for Cusiter with five minutes left. 8/10
Ali Dickinson – Superb stuff from ‘Dicko’. Did the set-piece chores but also managed to look, at times, like a very robust blindside in the loose. Strong in the rucks and mauls too. On this form Ryan Grant will find him hard to usurp. 8/10
Ross Ford – I like this new Ross Ford. He makes his line-outs, carrys the ball well and stands up his opposite number regularly in the scrum. Just needs to hook and we may have a good international hooker on our hands. At last. 8/10
Euan Murray – Warlike performance from a clearly fired up Mr Murray. Perhaps did too much ‘war-stuff’ and ended up coming off a broken man after half an hour. Good effort though. 6/10
Richie Gray – An absolutely world-class defensive display from the big blond one. Time and time again he halted the All Black tide with some huge hits. Was our priority target in the lineouts and added grunt to the scrum battle. Another excellent performance from the resurgent lock forward. 8.5/10
Jonny Gray – Man of the match in my opinion. His confidence and energy is only matched by his skill and desire to win for his country. Very promising couple of games from the Glasgow youngster. Lions 2017 very much on his horizon. 9/10
Robert Harley – Much more involved in all aspects of the game this week. Looked to disrupt wherever possible(and often when not possible). Gave option in the restarts and worked tirelessly around the paddock. Made yards with the ball too. Must be a nightmare to play against. 8/10
Adam Ashe – Less chance to shine on the ball this week but was very effective in all other areas. In particular his work from the base of the scrum was impeccable and his tackling immense. Visibly wilted in the second period and was replaced by Beattie on 55 minutes. 8.5/10
Blair Cowan – Used as a midfield battering ram/dummy runner off the line outs to reasonable effect. Put his body on the line throughout and make some vital contributions. Substituted with ten minutes to go after an altogether encouraging display. 8/10
Subs:
Fraser Brown – Took a five minute bow at the end during a scrappy period. Scrums were toiling by this point. The experience will have done him the world of good. 6/10
Gordon Reid – His handful of minutes against the best team in world rugby will have set a benchmark for where he needs to be in the future. 6/10
Geoff Cross – Instantly contributed two penalty offenses before half-time. Was a yellow card waiting the happen in the second but managed to hold his discipline and contribute well. 6/10
David Denton – On for Cowan on 70 minutes. Found himself under Thrush for the winning All Black try. 6/10
Johnnie Beattie – On for Ashe on the hour mark to a warm reception from the BT Murrayfield crowd. 6.5/10
Chris Cusiter – Made a positive impact in the final shakes of the rattlesnakes tail. Lively, intelligent and popular with the crowd. 6/10
Duncan Weir – Came on for a dazed Russell on 25 minutes. Missed a tackle then gave away a penalty. Back on after an hour to little impact. 5/10
Sean Lamont – Best game for Scotland in a loooong time. Pure veteran warrior stuff as he chased, carried, tackled and looked every inch the Lamont we all know and love. 8.5/10