'Anything bar their best and they really are going to be under pressure'

Scotland will seek to continue their unbeaten start to the Autumn Nations Series when they take on the reigning world champions South Africa this weekend.

Gregor Townsend’s side followed up a resounding win over Tonga with a tight victory over Australia on Sunday, while the Springboks crept past Wales the day before in Cardiff.

When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 13:00 (GMT) on Saturday November 13th at BT Murrayfield and will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber talks about the ‘slow poison’ of the starting XV

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber talks about the ‘slow poison’ of the starting XV

Head-to-head
South Africa boast a healthy record over Scotland of 22 wins and five losses and are currently on a run of six wins over them. Scotland’s last win came in November 2010 at Murrayfield, a 21-17 victory.

Match odds from bet365
bet365 have the handicap on South Africa at -7 with 7/10 odds that they win both halves. There are also 11/2 odds that Scotland win with a margin of 1-5 points.

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Prediction

Former Scotland scrum-half Rory Lawson, who started in his country’s last win over South Africa, predicts a tight affair in Edinburgh, and said the Springboks will need to come into this match with a completely different mentality to what they did eleven years ago if they hope to win.

“I remember back to 2010 and playing against South Africa and they were captained by Victor Matfield that day,” Lawson said on the BBC Radio Scotland Rugby Podcast following the win over Australia.

“When I looked across the tunnel, I knew that he wouldn’t be coming really expecting us to do anything to them. They weren’t thinking ‘we need to put our best game out on the field to be able to beat this Scotland team.’ Now they really do.

“I think South Africa genuinely will come here knowing that anything bar their best or 90 percent of their best and they really, really are going to be under pressure and could end up on the wrong end of the result. I think the middle third of field, the management from both sides in that middle third, will be the difference next week. It will be a game of fine margins, I don’t think it will be a big score deficit, but we’ll wait and see.”

*Odds accurate as of 8/11/21.