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Springboks kick their way to victory over Scotland in Murrayfield

By PA
Hamish Watson is tackled by Eben Etzebeth /PA

Stuart Hogg became a Scotland record holder after a double against South Africa, but the world champions kicked their way to a 30-15 victory at BT Murrayfield.

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Hogg scored two tries to take him up to 24 for Scotland and join Tony Stanger and Ian Smith at the top of the all-time list.

Gregor Townsend’s side matched the Springboks for tries, with Makazole Mapimpi also crossing twice and the hosts led 10-8 at half-time.

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But the visitors’ control and physicality saw them comfortably win the penalty count and they kicked themselves out of sight in the final quarter of the Autumn Nations Series game.

Scotland were looking to follow up victory over Australia last Sunday and Townsend made four changes, with Glasgow winger Rufus McLean handed a start and Leicester centre Matt Scott starting his first international since June 2017. Hamish Watson had dropped to the bench.

Scotland faced a difficult opening, not helped by early handling errors from Finn Russell and Hogg, and they conceded five penalties in the opening 11 minutes.

They fronted up to the physicality of the tourists though and stole a line-out on their five-metre line, before Duhan Van Der Merwe turned defence into attack in devastating fashion after another turnover.

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The South Africa-born winger ran from the try line to the halfway line before forcing a penalty which Russell kicked over from 40 metres after the visitors were further punished for dissent.

Russell soon missed another penalty from similar range but tougher angle and the home side were warned about the number of penalties they were conceding before Elton Jantjies kicked the visitors level.

Mapimpi went over in the 28th minute having evaded two despairing tackles after the visitors got an overload on the left wing.

Jantjies was well off target with the conversion and Scotland pushed forward before Hogg got his first try in the 34th minute following good possession. Russell kick out wide to Van Der Merwe for the second time in a minute and there were a series of offloads from the winger, Sam Skinner and Chris Harris before Hogg went over.

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Russell converted but missed a good penalty chance to extend the half-time lead – seconds after visiting head coach Jacques Nienaber made three front-row substitutions rather than wait for half-time.

Nienaber also swapped scrum-halves at half-time and his side stepped up a gear.

Van Der Merwe was robbed in the air and Mapimpi soon went over inside three minutes of the restart following a good burst of pace and a perfectly timed pass from Damian De Allende.

Jantjies kicked the conversion plus two penalties before Hogg burst over again in the 59th minute. Scotland moved the ball quickly from left to right after a line-out and Van Der Merwe’s one-handed offload sent the captain running into yards of space to cross.

Russell missed the conversion to leave the deficit at six, but Scotland soon forced a penalty deep in visiting territory following a kick and chase.

However, South Africa stole the resulting line-out and the world champions turned the screw in the final quarter.

Their physicality forced a number of penalties which proved the difference. Handre Pollard kicked two and Frans Steyn added one from long range to secure an ultimately comfortable away win.

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1 Comment
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isaac 1087 days ago

Scotland was handful if not falling away for the latter part of the boks boring game....btw the Hogg try is a contender for try of the year

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Oh no, not him again? 1 hour ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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