Springboks smash Scotland at Murrayfield

Five tries to one for the visitors

South Africa beat Scotland 45-10 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday. The first half was dramatic, the second half progressively tatty.

South Africa looked to be cruising to victory as they made all the clever, incisive, effective play in the first half and then things fell apart in the last ten minutes - or so it seemed.

First Victor Matfield and then Bakkies Botha received yellow cards. Then Scotland received a penalty try. Then Scotland won a South African shortened line-out and Alistair Hogg was bursting away with head-up confidence. Then along came Bryan Habana and the Springboks kept a comfortable lead at 35-10. The Springboks won the yellow-card absence 10-7!

It was cold and dark and wet at Murrayfield, but the Springboks ran with the ball. They had a simple chance to score, but Percy Montgomery hooked a kick from in front. But attacking continued. Jaco van der Westhuyzen broke and Jaque Fourie burst off a bit of Joe van Niekerk crabbing, handed off Hugo Southwell and with sheer strength got the ball down just inside the corner post as two Scots did their best to stop him.

The television match official took his time and confirmed the try. Montgomery, so inaccurate with an easy kick, goaled this hard one. 7-0 after eight minutes.

A long penalty kick produced a five-metre line-out. The Springboks mauled, and new cap Solly Tyibilika went over as low as a mongoose. 12-0 after 13 minutes.

There could have been another try as the Springboks attacked left and then right and Tyibilika fed inside to Fourie who lost the ball four metres from an open line. They kept up the agttack and with the referee playing played advantage and Van der Westhuyzen dropped a goal. 15-0.

Chris Paterson kicked a simple penalty for Scotland as the half enjoyed a burst of scoring.

A minute later Van der Westhuyzen kicked a 45-metre dropped goal and a minute after that Habana stood in the way of a long pass to his right by Hugo Southwell. The left-wing took off downfield in the manner of Syd Nomis of old, shoulder slightly hunched, legs far too fast for any opposition. 25-3 after 25 minutes.

Then came the yellow cards and the penalty try and it was 25-10 after 34 minutes. Back came the Scots and then Habana did his second intercept as Scotland attacked and Dan Parks passed to his right and Habana caught it and set off for another long sprint.

Half-time came with the Springboks led 32-10.

The 13-man Springboks nearly scored at the start of the second half when they collected a high kick and attacked near the Scottish right corner. Big Gurthrö Steenkamp bullocked over through Paterson but the TMO decided that he had put his foot a fraction of millimetre on the touch-line and so it became a line-out to Scotland.

After 45 minutes Montgomery kicked a penalty and then, with advantage on and the play five metres from the Scottish line, Van der Westhuyzen kicked his third dropped goal.

The half petered out to full time as substitutions became the most active part of the game till replacement Michael Claassens broke off a line-out and fed replacement Gaffie du Toit who gave Van der Westhuyzen a jog to the posts.

Man of the Match: The Springbok forwards, who scrummed with increasing power, gave the halves greater comfort and Fourie du Preez and Jaco van der Westhuyzen enjoyed a fine afternoon. New cap Gurthrö Steenkamp did well while replacement Mike Blair, on after only 11 minutes, was full of life for Scotland. But our man of the match is Bryan Habana, who did more than could have been expected of him in his second Test, first start. He scored two tries when Scotland looked promising and he cut Blair in half when the Scots came off a five-metre scrum. He also did other strong things.

Moment of the Match: Take your pick of Jaque Fourie's strength in the try and any of Bryan Habana's three actions we have mentioned. We would go for Bryan Habana's second intercept which was harder for the situation was more dangerous and the pass sharper, but he caught it as if by reflex and shuffled off to score.

Villain of the Match: The locks - Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha who earned yellow cards for disregarding the laws of the game.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try: Penalty try
Con: Paterson
Pen: Paterson

For South Africa:
Tries: Fourie, Tyibilika, Habana 2, Van der Westhuyzen
Cons: Montgomery 4
Pen: Montgomery
DGs: Van der Westhuyzen 3

Yellow cards: Victor Matfield (South Africa, 36), Bakkies Botha (South Africa, 36)

Teams:

Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell (Graeme Morrison, 72), 14 Chris Paterson, 13 Ben Hinshelwood, 12 Andy Henderson, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks (Gordon Ross, 53), 9 Chris Cusiter (Mike Blair, 11), 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Donnie MacFadyen, 6 Jason White (Jon Petrie, 53), 5 Nathan Hines (Scot MacLeod, 17), 4 Stuart Grimes, 3 Gavin Kerr, 2 Gordon Bulloch (Robbie Russell, 72), 1 Allan Jacobsen .
Unused replacements: 17 Bruce Douglas, .

South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Jaque Fourie, 13 Marius Joubert (Gaffie du Toit, 70), 12 Wayne Julies (Gcobani Bobo, 74), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez (Michael Claassens, 70), 8 Joe van Niekerk (Jacques Cronjé, 38-41, 52), 7 Danie Rossouw (Jacques Cronjé, 15-26), 6 Solly Tyibilika, 5 Victor Matfield (Gerrie Britz, 60), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde (Danie Coetzee, 73), 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gürthro Steenkamp (Os du Randt, 52).

Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales)
Touch judges: Chris White (England), Eric Darrière (France)
Assessor: Colin High (England)
Television match official: Nigel Owens (Wales)

By Paul Dobson