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Scotland to host world champions in one of four autumn Tests
By Josh Raisey
Scotland will face world champions South Africa in November at Scottish Gas Murrayfield in the first meeting between the two sides since their World Cup pool encounter.
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Just days after finishing their Guinness Six Nations campaign with a 17-13 loss to Ireland in Dublin, Scotland have confirmed the schedule for their four-match Autumn Nations Series.
Rassie Erasmus’ side will play in Edinburgh on Sunday November 10, eight days after Scotland get their autumn campaign started with a clash with Fiji.
A week after facing the four-time World Cup winners, Scotland will host another memorable outfit from the World Cup last year, with Portugal playing at Murrayfield for the first time since a 2007 meeting with Scotland.
The Scots will finish their campaign with a clash with Australia, meaning they will only face one team that are currently ranked higher than them in the world rankings, the Springboks.
Gregor Townsend’s side opened their World Cup campaign against the Springboks last year, but were soundly beaten 18-3 by the eventual tournament winners in Marseille.
Before thinking about the autumn, Scotland have a tour of North and South America to prepare for in July, where they will face Canada, the USA, Chile and Uruguay.
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Looking at Scotland’s autumn schedule, Townsend said: “It’s a really exciting prospect to have four home games in succession during November and the varied opposition will test us in different ways.
“Fiji and Portugal both play a fast and open brand of rugby and performed very well in the Rugby World Cup in France. This will be a challenge for our defence but should make for two great games of rugby.
“Having South Africa as one of our opponents will make for a special occasion. Taking on the reigning world champions is the ultimate test for any team in rugby right now and that will be a game everyone will be looking forward to when the time comes around.
“Our final game against Australia will round off the month nicely, against a team we have fought out some entertaining and close encounters with over the last few years.
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“This year’s Six Nations once again demonstrated how inspiring matchdays are at home for our players and we can’t wait to play in front of our supporters once again, four weeks in a row.”
Great for Portugal to get another big game. I like the idea of Scotland’s Americas including Uruguay and Chile down South. What a voyage for Scotland and massive for Uruguay and Fiji to get such opposition. Well done Scotland.
SA will be tough but Scotland will have more tools to trouble them perhaps now.
SA only down for two matches, France only one so I assume the SA/Fra rematch will likely be happenning.
Some great games for Scotland to build further upon. Can look at squad depth. Tier 2 nations getting a lot more meaningful games as well.