South Africa exacted revenge over Scotland at King`s Park in Durban today - but it was far from convincing.
A late 17-point rally in the final quarter - led by fly-half Louis Koen - saw the Springboks avenge their 21-6 shock defeat in Edinburgh last year, although for a large period of the game the Scots looked the better side.
The Boks seemed to be playing on empty, with many of their moves breaking down, and several basic handling errors frustrating their attempts to subdue their battling opponents.
Only when fortune smiled on them, when Koen hit the uprights with what should have been a score-equalling penalty attempt, did they finally take the lead in a game the Scots can feel hard done by in losing.
Flanker Hendrik Gerber pounced on the loose ball, and it was sent wide for Trevor Halstead to bump off Scottish full-back Glenn Metcalfe to score with ease.
That try had come after Scottish winger Chris Paterson had given his side a 13-point lead shortly after the break.
Paterson finished off a move which went through 13 pairs of hands and had the Bok defences at sixes and sevens after winger Kenny Logan ran straight up the middle to start the move. Paterson had also struck further blows with two penalties.
Koen reduced the deficit with a penalty of his own before the Boks lost Victor Matfield to the sin bin for tackling Metcalfe without the ball.
Stefan Terblanche crashed over for his 18th international after the Boks managed to turn over ball and send it wide for the winger to dummy inside and take the gap.
The Scots threw everything into the last few minutes, but the Bok defence held firm.
The first half had been all Scotland with flanker Jason White crashing over in the 13th minute to open the scoring after the Scots stole the ball from the South African line-out.
Fly-half Gregor Townsend spread the ball wide out to the left and neat handling gave the simplest of tries to White.
The Springboks came close a few minutes later when captain Joost van der Westhuizen fed inside to send Koen through, but Bryan Redpath managed to gather the chip and chase ahead of a hounding Gerber to touch down in the nick of time.
Koen added a penalty to put the Boks on the board in the 28th minute. Scotland centre Andy Craig took the initiative after a wide move from a five-metre scrum looked like breaking down, and after Logan instinctively passed inside to Craig he converted the second try.
The Boks looked nervous and while they were dominant up front, they did not look like scoring at any stage as basic mistakes kept on disrupting their attacking moves.
Koen added another penalty to reduce the deficit to six points on the stroke of half-time to set up what turned out to be a thrilling second half.