Gordon Bulloch eyes up a rare win

Scots looking to raise their game

Scotland captain Gordon Bulloch insists South Africa will go into Saturday's match at Murrayfield unaffected by two consecutive defeats.

The Springboks arrive in Edinburgh for the last of Scotland's November Tests still recovering from losses to Ireland and England, the latter coming in the form of a 32-16 capitulation at Twickenham on Saturday.

However, Bulloch, who skippered the Scots in a 31-17 defeat to Australia at Hampden at the weekend, refuses to read too much into recent results and is looking forward to getting the win which would see Matt Williams' side accomplish their target of two wins out of four games.

"I'm looking forward to the game and it will be good back playing at Murrayfield," said Bulloch.

"We are disappointed about the result against Australia because we thought we had the chance of getting a victory.

"We performed well in aspects of the game but lapses in concentration and skill levels cost us.

"This week will be more about recovery and looking at tapes of South Africa.

"They are still a very good side and they are the Tri-Nations champions.

"They'll have a lot to prove on Saturday and they'll be going all out to finish their tour on a high.

"But so will we because our aim at the start of the series was to get two wins out of four and to do that we have to beat them.

"One win against a world class side would be a sign of improvement.

"Maybe two or three years down the line we can set our standards higher but we've got to set targets at the moment.

"If you don't set targets then you don't improve.

"We've had improvements in the line-outs, scrums and ball presentation and if we set realistic goals then we can improve further."

Bulloch took heart from Ireland's triumph over South Africa and Wales' performance in their narrow 26-25 defeat against New Zealand, viewing them as evidence of the gap closing between the northern and southern hemisphere countries.

"There was talk five or six years ago about a north versus south divide but that has largely disappeared now," he added.

"The Irish and Welsh squads though are about 18 months further down the line than us.

"The Irish in particular brought in a lot of young players at the end of the 90s and they are starting to see the benefit of that now."

Flanker Ally Hogg insists the Scots have made improvements in this Test series despite two disappointing defeats to Australia.

"We played some smarter rugby and kept the ball for periods of time," he said.

"Our line-outs are working well and we're starting to get our positional play right.

"So I think it's only a matter of time before we get on the right end of a scoreline and it would be fantastic to beat South Africa on Saturday."