SA back to the future, Scots back to the drawing board

* South Africa 45, Scotland 10

With two minutes to go before halftime at Murrayfield yesterday, South Africa were a team bereft of locks. It made precious little difference. Long before Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha had departed to the sin-bin, the Springboks had bolted through an open Scottish door.

Scotland had set out hoping to emulate their 2002 success against a similarly experimental South African XV. They did not remain above ground level for long.

Having left their defensive line not so much ajar as gaping wide open, by the 32nd minute they had crashed to Caledonian terra firma with a shuddering jolt. At that point, they were three tries and 22 points in arrears. Even their temporary numerical advantage could not help.

There was a try for debutant Solly Tyibilika and two for Bryan Habana on his first international start, both wrapped in tartan paper for the flying left wing.

There was a hat-trick of dropped goals for the former Leicester Tiger Jaco van der Westhuyzen, who dug in his claws with the fifth Springbok try in injury time.

After showing signs of progress in two defeats against the Wallabies, Matt Williams' team took one mighty retrograde step with the Six Nations' Championship looming. It was a fourth defeat out of four at Murrayfield in an unforgettable 2004. 

South Africa's 25-3 in the last minutes of the first half looked just like the buffer they might need when first Matfield and then Botha departed to the sin-bin.

Two men light up front, the Springboks conceded a penalty try for deliberately collapsing a scrum. By the time South Africa were back to 15 men, eight minutes into the second half, their lead had stretched to 35-10.

* A last-gasp drop goal from first five-eighth Ronan O'Gara gave Ireland a dramatic 21-19 win over Argentina at Lansdowne Road.

O'Gara scored all Ireland's points in a test win for the second time this month, landing another drop goal and five penalties before slotting the winning kick as the game went into stoppage time.

Argentina had led almost from the start.

 

- INDEPENDENT