South Africa came back from 10-nil down at half-time to salvage a 14-10 victory over Scotland in an extremely close-fought battle at Murrayfield on Saturday.
The world champions were pushed all the way by the a Scotland team that weren't afraid to take them on physically and almost caused the first upset of the November Test session.
A 56th minute try from replacement centre Jaque Fourie brought South Africa back into the game after Nathan Hines scored on the stroke on half-time to give the home side a deserved lead.
It is not the policy of this website to throw mud at the referee, but the question must be asked if there still is place for Dave Pearson's "School Headmaster" style of officiating in the modern game.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the game was characterised by frustration from both sides concerning the penalties given away at the breakdown.
Pearson's interpretation of what was a penalisable offence for going off one's feet was clearly not in sync with what the Springboks felt constituted winning a rucking battle (i.e. pushing an opponent back and to ground).
Scotland too were to be frustrated and captain Mike Blairs exasperated comment to the ref in the second half -- "We don't know what you want from us"- seemed to sum the situation up.
It must be said that the visitor's discipline was not up the standard their coach would have desired and they had clearly not taken the IRB's directive to referees to be stricter at the breakdown to heart.
With South Africa's penalty count at the breakdown in the first half reaching double figures almost every attack made by the world champions ended with the home fly-half having a chance to kick for touch or the posts.
The first half firmly belonged to Scotland. They took the game to their visitors, who made far to many errors with ball in hand, notably losing the ball upon impact on a number of occasions and knocking-on when not under pressure (three times in the first six minutes alone.)
The Scots on the other hand were making their tackles count and the passes stick. The home side dominated the opening stages and took the lead just before the half-an-hour mark thanks to a penalty from Phil Godman. The lead could have been even more had Dan Parks, on as a blood replacement for Godman, not missed two previous attempts at goal.
The home side were also dominant at scrum time as the Bok set piece fell apart when Bismarck du Plessis was forced off inside the first five minutes.
The question on the lips of every South African regarded the game plan Peter de Villiers team would employ: Would they the repeat the 'kick it back no matter what' style of a week earlier of would we see a return to the 'run it from everywhere bravado' of the Tri-Nations.
All were hoping for a sensible balance, but with the Scots enjoying the lion's share of territory and possession the men in green and gold were unable to establish any sort of meaningful attacking pattern.
The Boks played very direct rugby, but with the breakdown battle not going their way, they only scared the hosts when Jean de Villiers managed to slip through the defensive curtain out wide or when Conrad Jantjes made a clever chip ahead.
Scotland's forwards were rewarded for making the hard yards when Hines crashed over next to the posts with the break just seconds away.
One tries to avoid using the old cliché of "a game of two halves", but the opening minutes of the second period certainly made it look like it would be the case.
The Boks cleaned up their act and the penalty tide turned against the Scots. Jean de Villiers was once again the home side's inspiration on attack and his break in the 43th minute set up the platform for the Boks to finally get on the scoreboard via a penalty from Ruan Pienaar.
Pienaar doubled his tally shortly thereafter as the Boks started to take control of the game as their loose forwards made their presence felt.
De Villiers was again involved when they took the lead. Adrian Jacobs took the ball to the advantage line before passing to his fellow player-of-the-year nominee. De Villiers drew two defenders before timing his pass to Fourie out wide to perfect. Fourie, on for Bryan Habana, made giant leap for the line which turned out to be the Boks' biggest step toward victory.
Pienaar slotted another penalty to extend the lead to four points and set up a grandstand finish as Scotland threw the kitchen sink at the Springbok defence, which, so desperate to keep the their hosts at bay, where guilty of losing their shape a bit as they chased the ball carrier.
Peter de Villiers, who questioned the wisdom of his replacements last week, made the bold move of bringing Francois Steyn on for his namesake. Steyn's massive boot was put to good use to keep the visitor's at bay.
Goodman missed an easy penalty with five minutes left on the clock, forcing the Scots to go a for a try that would not come, despite laying siege to the Springbok try-line in the dying minutes.
Man of the match: Nathan Hines was immense for the home side, as was Mike Blair. Tendai "the Beast" Mtawarira gained five metres every time he carried the ball, but stalwart flank Juan Smith produced his best performance in a Test this year. He was huge in defence and was at his barnstorming best with ball in hand
Moment of the match: Jaque Fourie's try. The Springboks came close on a number of occasions but when Fourie finally breached the whitewash, you got the feeling it would be Springboks day after all.
Villain of the match: No fisticuffs to report.
The Scorers
For Scotland:
Try: Hines
Con: Godman
Pen: Godman
For South Africa:
Tries: Fourie
Pens: Pienaar 3
The teams:
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Thom Evans, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Rory Lamont, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Ally Hogg, 7 John Barclay, 6 Jason White, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobson.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Matt Mustchin, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Hugo Southwell.
South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Brian Mujati, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Frans Steyn, 22 Jaque Fourie.
Venue: Murrayfield
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland (England), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
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