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Two weeks since their disappointing start to the 2015 Rugby World Cup after their shock defeat at the hands of Japan, South Africa have rebounded well with two victories. The Springboks had to ward off a spirited fightback from the Scots to register an important victory in their Pool B match at Newcastle.
After their immediate rebound against Samoa with a big 44-6 win, South Africa took one more step to recovery after their win against Scotland put them top of the group. Schalk Burger, JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana all scored tries to power the Boks while Hander Pollard contributed 19 points from his boot.
Scrum half Fourie du Preez captained the Boks for the first time and on his captaincy debut, South Africa put in an impressive performance. The showing of the Springbok pack, led by the towering Eben Etzebeth and his partner in the second row, Lodewyk De Jager, helped put them on top of Pool B, a point ahead of Scotland.
South Africa went ahead on 13 minutes when Burger got the benefit of the doubt from the TMO as he ruled that Scotland's last ditch attempt to stop the try was incomplete. Pollard scored the conversion and added two more penalties to quickly push the score to 13-0. Scotland's first points came on 40 minutes from captain Greg Laidlaw.
Two minutes before the interval through Du Preez found Pietersen with a slick pass to force South Africa's second try to take them to half time up 20-3.
Captain Laidlaw though engineered a fightback with a penalty quickly after the restart. Scotland's only try then came in the second half from Tommy Seymour. Laidlaw's conversion brought the lead down further to just seven points, but Pollard responded for South Africa.
Laidlaw was soon forced off after a yellow card for a foul on Habana. Duncan Weir took up Laidlaw's kicking duties and helped keep pace, but Pollard was responding with the same for the Boks.
Habana's try then sealed the deal for the Springboks, the South African wing scoring the 61st try of his career. Habana is now third on the all-time international try scorer's list, behind only Japan's Daisuke Ohata (69 tries) and Australia's David Campese (64).
The Scots now need to beat Samoa next week to ensure qualification.
