Springboks withstand Scotland 42-28 in Nations Championship thriller

PRETORIA, South Africa -- World champion South Africa survived an impressively resilient Scotland 42-28 in a thrilling Nations Championship contest at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Springboks led 14-0 and 35-14 but had to withstand relentless attacks by a Scotland side which has taken down England, France and Argentina this year.

South Africa missed a remarkable 46 tackles but Scotland lacked a clinical touch to fully take advantage.

“Gutted,” Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu said. “We had a lot of possession in their 22 but didn't capitalize.”

Scotland fought back brilliantly to tie the match 14-14 by halftime and close to 35-28 with 10 minutes remaining. It had a four-try bonus point, its most points against South Africa since the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and was within another converted try.

Then another Scot was suddenly running into space, Magnus Bradbury. Tom Jordan lobbed a kickpass toward the right touchline but wing Kyle Steyn spilled it under pressure.

It took two old stagers to secure the Springboks victory in the 77th minute. Handre Pollard's grubber was scooped up by center Jesse Kriel, who bumped off two Scots to score.

“I thought we showed great character,” Pollard said. “We let them back in in the third quarter which was disappointing but we got through it. Defensively we were pretty disappointing in some periods but we're still happy with the result.”

The Boks are two for two in the championship with Wales coming next weekend. Scotland go home to face Fiji rueing a chance to beat the Boks in South Africa for the first time.

Wiese bowls over Scots

There was no chance Scotland would be taken by surprise at kickoff, like England was last weekend at Ellis Park. Instead, Scotland stunned the Springboks by surging into the 22 twice. The chances were blown by a double movement and crooked throw-in.

The Springboks made 10 changes after the 45-21 defeat of England and responded to Scotland through scrum penalties. No. 8 Evan Roos was held up over the line but scrumhalf Embrose Papier scooted in for his first test try. The try of the match followed.

Prop Boan Venter held above his head 116-kilogram lock Cobus Wiese to catch the restart, then carried him forward to hit the ground running. Wiese bowled over three Scots and took down two more. Roos completed the try.

Scotland was unbowed. Three more chances in the South Africa 22 went begging until a tap penalty was capped by Matt Fagerson crashing over in the 35th minute.

Right on halftime, Tuipulotu took Finn Russell's offload up the middle and sent wing Kyle Rowe free to the line for the tying try.

South Africa gave Scotland another opening at the start of the new half when Ben-Jason Dixon was sin-binned for head contact in a ruck.

But Scotland couldn't take advantage, including being held up over the tryline.

The Boks weren't so wasteful. Elrigh Louw, on for Roos, powered over after 12 phases; Damian Willemse stepped and reached out to score; and prop Zac Porthen capped a devastating nine minutes with a try from the back of a ruck. All were converted and South Africa looked out of sight at 35-14.

But another break by Scotland lock Scott Cummings sent Josh Bayliss haring to the posts, and two minutes later scrumhalf Ben White was stretched to the full to score. Scotland was back in it yet again and the Loftus crowd of 45,053 was silenced yet again.

“At 70 minutes I was believing we would go on and win,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said. “There's a lot more in us. I just know, with the amount of opportunities the players created today through work, skill, and intelligence we've got to take more to beat the world champions. That's the frustrating element."

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