Scotland the brave, or the foolhardy? For 60 minutes of yesterday's gripping and hugely entertaining encounter at Murrayfield, Scotland threatened to step free from the shadow of the Southern Hemisphere. Courageous, tenacious and vibrant, they harassed South Africa mercilessly, forcing countless errors only to self-destruct in two minutes of sustained fecklessness.
That cameo encapsulated Scotland's second half performance, 40 minutes of unstructured mayhem: at one moment superbly fluent, on other occasions hopelessly fragile in the basics, missing touch, first up tackles and failing to find jumpers in the lineout. They tantalised the Springboks with their generosity and ultimately the visitors grasped the lifeline in emphatic fashion.
Leading 19-18, Scotland looked to have defended an exceptional Bobby Skinstad surge of 50 metres, the ball going forward form Robbie Fleck's despairing lunge, but Gregor Townsend failed to find touch: it was symptomatic of his overall display, inaccurate with both his boot and distribution. Scottish coach Jim Telfer kindly referred to Gregor's malaise as simple "rustiness," but the player would have been harder on himself.
Springbok full back Percy Montgomery fielded the loose kick, fired the ball inside to Pieter Roussouw who in turn glided round the outside of Scottish hooker Gordon Bulloch. Two quick rucks inside the Scottish 22 and Joost van der Westhuizen exploited acres of room on the blindside to send replacement prop Ollie le Roux in for a try.
Jannie de Beer converted as he was to do again just two minutes later. A Townsend pass intended for second row Scott Murray sailed over his head. South Africa's right wing Deon Kaysar, who enjoyed a superb game, pounced, shrugged off a half-hearted tackle and scampered in from 35 metres: 14 points in two minutes, the Scots would never recover.
It was a far cry from the opening 40 minutes when the Scots pillaged South African ruck ball, chiefly through the exploits of a fine back row in which Budge Pountney was outstanding. Scrum-half Gary Armstrong was sharp and incisive and inside centre John Leslie a constant threat. Scotland's scrum, an area of concern prior to the match, was especially effective, one heroic stand spanned four five metre scrums early in the second half.
Perhaps it was the tremendous strain in the tight that robbed Scottish legs of energy in the last 20 minutes, for there was a noticeable falling off in the quality of work by the tight five. Once the game was freed of the frenetic collisions and power based ball carrying, South Africa profited. In particular number eight Bobby Skinstad, up to then careless and largely anonymous, enjoyed the open spaces and it was his contribution along with that of captain van der Westhuizen, Roussouw, the excellent Rassie Erasmus and Andrew Venter, Kaysar and Fleck that allowed the visitors to pull away in the closing stages.
Coach Nick Mallett was displeased with South Africa's firsthalf performance, citing silly turnovers which provided Scotland with a try from flanker Martin Leslie which gave the home side a 16-13 interval lead. It could have been even worse, Kaysar preventing a certain try following a Skinstad mistake close to his own line.
The diminutive wing crucially intervened on 53 minutes when catching John Leslie - the Scottish centre had raced onto Townsend intelligent chip into the 22 and seemed certain to score - from behind with a magnificent tackle and hauling him down a couple of metres shy of the line. Leslie departed the field on a stretcher following that passage of play.
With him went the cutting edge that Scotland craved: Townsend without the foil that had carved open defences in the Five Nations Championship, over-elaborated, becoming increasingly frantic as Scotland sought an unlikely redemption. South Africa managed periodic bouts of excellence, Brendan Venter and namesake Andre Venter's tries an example of the quality of which they are capable. Mallett candidly pointed out the lack of ball control that threatened to scupper patient, constructive rugby. Out-half Jannie de Beer proved a superb deputy for late hamstring victim Henry Honiball, while Brendan Venter's shuddering defence plugged holes in the first half. Venter also managed to score South Africa's only try in the first half.
South Africa were crucially handed an ideal start to the second half. Armstrong's up and under from his own 22, stayed in play as he wished but the scrumhalf's failure to make the first up tackle on Montgomery, along with the equally fallible Alan Tait, proved calamitous.
Montgomery found Brendan Venter, who released Kaysar. His acceleration through a gap and beautifully timed pass allowed Fleck to race over. Scotland replied with a Logan penalty but the damage suffered in conceding two tries in quick succession would be irredeemable.
Van der Westhuizen spoke of the relief that victory brought, an understandable sentiment from a South African given four defeats in their last five matches.
