Southwell wary of 'physical' Boks

White knocks on Woodward's door

Springbok coach Jake White may feel that his team were like schoolboys playing against men, in the physical department during the 32-16 loss against England at the weekend, but Scotland's players certainly still rate the South Africans as a brutal bunch.

Scotland fullback Hugo Southwell says he is well aware of the physical confrontation his team-mates will face when they line up against South Africa at Murrayfield on Saturday.

White, who seemed pretty despondent after his team was out-muscled by England at Twickenham, went as far as to pay a visit to former England coach Sir Clive Woodward on Sunday to find some answers to his problems on what has now turned into a disastrous five-match year-end tour.

But the Scottish players, who lost (31-17) to Australia - for the second time in three weeks - at the weekend, are gearing up for a physical test against the Boks.

The Edinburgh man, Southwell, admits he had his eyes opened when he played for the University of Cape Town during a gap year spent teaching in the South African city.

Five years on Southwell will tackle the Springboks for the first time, ready to further his international education against one the world's finest teams.

After suffering defeats by England and Ireland in consecutive weeks, the London-born star fully expects the Springboks to be a wounded animal desperate to hit back against Scotland.

"My time in South Africa was definitely an eye opener as far as the physical side of the game is concerned," Southwell told PA Sport.

"It was great to play for the university side, which was an open team a teaching colleague of mine out there played for.

"Different countries have different rugby cultures and it was very valuable to experience the one in South Africa."

Southwell, who qualifies for Scotland through a maternal grandfather from Falkirk, revealed the Scotland camp will this week spend a great amount of time adapting their game plan for the particular threats South Africa will pose.

The 24-year-old said: "We change our plans for every team we play. We look at the videos and decide how best to organise our defence and construct our attack.

"They use a rushing defence which tries to suffocate 10, 12 and 13 and cause confusion so we will have to adapt our attack differently to the way we tried to play against Australia.

"It's unlikely I will see too much ball out wide as full-back because there probably won't be too much first phase ball coming my way. It is likely to be a less structured game than against Australia.

"We will probably try to get runners coming off the centres and that is where I am more likely to see the ball.

"But, during the game, sometimes you have to adapt your game plan if it is not working or just to put doubt in the opposition's mind."

Southwell, who enjoyed playing in front of a Hampden Park crowd, believes Scotland now have the mentality as well as the ability to defeat South Africa after a year of improvement under Matt Williams.

The 31-17 loss to Australia at Hampden was the second to the Wallabies in three weekends - but Scotland were within touching distance for most of the game.

Southwell, who made his debut against Samoa in the summer, said: "We showed we can compete with the biggest teams against Australia.

"The final score might suggest differently but that last try made it look a lot more easy for them than it was. We have showed we can take these teams on."

* Meanwhile Bok coach Jake White had a friendly "get-together" with former England coach Sir Clive Woodward on Sunday - a day after the Boks were smashed by the English.

"I found it a most valuable exercise," White told the SuperSport website.

"Clive pointed out that three years ago England were in exactly the same position as we are now with a young side, full of talent, but still developing. It was good to confer with him on how he managed the process before attaining the goal of winning the World Cup."