The game was devoid of almost any creativity, which showed on the match stats.

Chris Paterson accounted for all of Scotland's points with his six penalties, while Italy scored one try - and that was fairly fortuitous.

Here BBC Sport highlights how the key battles played out in Edinburgh.

Smith is the heartbeat of the Scottish pack and his scrummaging ability and general mobility around the field has seen him selected on two Lions tours.

But he had another relatively quiet Six Nations game on Saturday. He didn't do too much wrong but it was hardly the sort of display to capture the attention of the Lions management.

Castrogiovanni was a complete menace in the scrum and always has been since making the number three shirt his own following his debut in 2002.

The 23-year-old helped inspire a dominant front five and had the odd foray in the loose. Admittedly he was outdone in that department by fellow prop Andrea Lo Cicero.

Taylor's inclusion after a lengthy injury was a massive boost for Scotland, who have been without one of their few genuinely world-class players for just under a year.

His commitment to the cause was as strong as it ever has been and he was looking for a break at every crossroads. That said, he understandably tired towards the end.

Persico, like Taylor, was arguably the lynchpin of his back row. He may not quite have caught the attention to the same degree as his opposite number in this game, but he was still a handful throughout.

The former Leeds flanker was his typical scavenging self as he had been against Ireland.

This was very much seen as the battle between the old and the new of world number nines.

Cusiter had another bright game for Scotland and certainly did his Lions bid no harm. He niggled away at Troncon, was repeatedly hounding his pack to put in more effort and showed good decision-making abilities.

Troncon showed all the guile of a veteran of 88 international caps, despite lacking some of the pace of his earlier years.

He failed to make the telling break to send Italy into the lead but still has the edge over rival Italian rival number nine Paul Griffen... for now.

The fact that Scotland's midfield barely did anything creative all afternoon tells the story of Craig's match.

To his credit he wasn't given a lot to work with and he comfortably edged the battle with Stoica, while hardly putting a foot wrong in defence.

Stoica was substituted with plenty still left to play and not even he can be surprised.

Quite simply, things just did not go his way on Saturday. His trademark hefty tackles and hole-punching runs were absent almost throughout. It'll be a game he'll choose to forget.