South Africa duly wrapped up a series triumph over Scotland courtesy of a 28-19 victory in the second Test at Johannesburg's Ellis Park on Saturday. Both sides scored one try each in a bruising contest at altitude.
Unlike last week, the Springboks flew out of the starting blocks, running at their opponents from the word go, and, more importantly, they mixed up their play well.
Fly-half Louis Koen, who weighed in with 23 points, ran the ball well, making an early break, but taking the wrong option -- as he did in the first Test -- at the moment critique.
Koen did, however, set up a try just a few minutes later, but sadly for him it was for the wrong side as an attempted long ball to his outside backs found Scotland No.13 Andy Craig in the bread-basket.
The Orrell three-quarter put on the after-burners and he safely negotiated his dash across the field, with Bok wing Ashwin Willemse too late to stop him.
Right-wing Chris Paterson slotted the simple conversion, and a penalty goal less than five minutes, and suddenly the visitors, who had just been into SA's half on two separate occasions, held a commanding 10-0 lead.
Koen soon began chipping away at Scotland's lead, slotting a penalty from the re-start after Paterson's first three-pointer, while a Koen drop-goal saw the scoreline reduced even more.
At 10-6 the Boks allowed Scotland to add to their lead, with a host of penalties from Koen and Paterson leaving the half-time score at 16-12 in the visitors' favour.
The Boks began the second stanza in exactly the same fashion as the first, except this time they managed to breach Scotland's defence, scoring their opening -- and ultimately only -- try after a wonderful bit of work from fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen.
Firstly Van der Westhuyzen did well to collect a tricky high ball, before turning it into a counter-attack, with Ashwin Willemse and Joost van der Westhuizen both handling en route to Stefan Terblanché's finish.
Terblanché's try put SA in the lead for the first time, with Koen's conversion putting them ahead by three points at 19-16.
Another Koen penalty stretched the Boks' lead to 22-16, but, typically, the brave Scottish side managed to stay in touch through Paterson's boot and some poor Bok discipline.
The home side conceded silly penalties, all of which were well within Paterson's range, but Koen, who ended up kicking six penalties -- equalling the South African record for penalty goals in a match -- kept his side ahead when it mattered most.
The Springboks enjoyed some great attacking moments in the latter stages of the match, and although Koen had stretched his side's lead to 28-19 just as the final quarter began, that second try eluded the South Africans.
Curiously, Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli left game-breaker Brent Russell on the bench, despite rushing him back into his match-day squad once the little Shark had proved his fitness at the start of the week.
A converted try would have put Scotland right back into the game at that stage, but, and more importantly, a converted try would have put the Boks out of reach. Russell, who does not need a second invitation to the tryline, could just have been the man to unlock Scotland's tiring defence.
So where does this match leave the two teams in a World Cup year?
Well, Scotland again deserve praise for their approach to the game -- Ian McGeechan's side doing their basics right and minimising contact against their bigger forwards.
For them this tour certainly was an improvement on their dismal RBS Six Nations campaign. But one just gets the feeling that it won't be enough come World Cup time.
South Africa.
Well, the hosts won again -- as their coach was quick to point out -- but their finishing was poor and they relied on the boot of Koen, whose all-round performance did not convince enough to suggest that he will be the custodian of the No.10 jersey come November this year.
Man of the match: Not many contenders in this department, but the likes of Victor Matfield, Ashwin Willemse and Jaco van der Westhuyzen stood out for South Africa, with Simon Taylor, Scott Murray, Bryan Redpath and Chris Paterson -- all of whom did well last week -- impressing for the visitors. In the end, Planet Rugby's vote goes to Jaco van der Westhuyzen for his enterprising play from the fullback position. Not a first-choice player this year, but given the chance through injury, the Bulls back looked dangerous with ball in hand and he showed wonderful composure under the high ball. He probably should have made more of his breaks count, but it was his run that set-up his side's only try of the day.
Moment of the match: The lead-up to Stefan Terblanché's try, the Boks' only score of the day. Van der Westhuyzen won a high ball before setting off on a strong run, finding support in the shape of young Lions winger Ashwin Willemse, who, in turn, found his captain Joost van der Westhuizen, who did just enough to put Terblanché away. It was simple, but, yet effective rugby.
Villain of the match: Springbok front rower Robbie Kempson wins our vote here for his late shoulder charge on Scotland replacement Brendan Laney in the dying moments of the match. It earned him a yellow card, the first, and only, of the match, although there was not too much in it from the Ulster forward.
The Teams:
South Africa: 1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Hendrik Gerber, 7 Wikus Van Heerden, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Trevor Halstead, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves: Juan Smith, Gcobani Bobo, Selborne Boome, Robbie Kempson, Cobus Visagie
Unused: Craig Davidson, Brent Russell
Scotland: 1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves: Michael Blair, Brendan Laney, Gordon McIlwham, Jon Petrie, Gordon Ross, Martin Leslie, Robbie Russell
Attendance: 55000
Referee: Young s.
Points Scorers:
South Africa
Tries: Terblanche C.S. 1
Conv: Koen L.J. 1
Pen K.: Koen L.J. 6
Drop G.: Koen L.J. 1
Scotland
Tries: Craig A. 1
Conv: Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.: Paterson C.D. 4
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