'Boks are the underdogs' says White

The Springboks, desperate to get their ailing year-end tour of the British Isles and Argentina back on track, have installed themselves as 'underdogs' in their Test against Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday.

White has stressed the need for South Africa to try and get their tour back on track, following the disappointing results of the last two weekends - which saw them go down 17-12 to Ireland and get smashed 32-16 by World Cup holders England.

However, the Bok coach says he is bracing himself for another tough encounter at Murrayfield against Matt Williams' Scottish side.

"I have watched videos from their Six Nations campaign, the summer tour Down Under and the two games against Australia recently," White said.

"We must be underdogs, we lost last time we were here [a record 21-6 defeat in 2002], we are playing away from home and they did really well in the two Tests against Australia [this month].

"They have always been one of the best rucking teams in the world, the way they recycle the ball and the way they keep it going."

White is hoping for an all-round improved performance from his team - which shows seven changes from the combination that went down to England - but warned his players that Scotland are more than capable of causing an upset.

"I was disappointed about the whole fixture [against England]," he said.

"We lost the kick-off at the start and they got three points on the board straight away, so it was backs against the wall from the offset.

"It was the first time for some of the players at Twickenham and we are going to be going back there again."

Meanwhile Bok captain John Smit admitted that victories in the two remaining two matches on tour - against Scotland on Saturday and Argentina in Buenos Aires the following week - were crucial.

In fact, Smit suggested that another defeat would turn this five-Test tour into a total disaster.

"We have a record of one win in three games - that suggests we did not even come close to smelling Grand Slam success," said Smit of the team's pre-tour aspirations of making a clean sweep against the four Home Unions.

"It is important we see off Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible. That will show that we have internalised some of the lessons from the tour and the conditions we have encountered.

"Then hopefully the Argentina game will be played in warm sunshine and we can finish off the year playing the attacking style of rugby that won us the Tri-Nations."