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The one thing that didn’t surprise Eben Etzebeth about Scotland
By Grant Constable reporting from Edinburgh
While the final scoreline gives the impression of a fairly comfortable outing for South Africa in their opening Autumn Nations Series match, it was anything but as Scotland gave as good as they got at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.
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The Springboks’ 7-1 bench aimed to effectively blast the Scots off the park in the second half, but it wasn’t quite that straightforward as the home outfit stood up to the giant units that are now holders of both the Rugby World Cup and the Rugby Championship.
A 32-15 victory will look impressive in the history books, but this was a contest that felt a lot closer. And there was plenty of feeling.
“I think I said in the press conference before the game yesterday that we know they are a quality side,” commented stand-in Springbok captain Eben Etzebeth, who himself felt the full force of Scotland’s physical effort.
Ewan Ashman hits hard 👊
📺 Watch the game live on @rugbyontnt.#AsOne | @autumnnations pic.twitter.com/ddUsMU5VYj
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) November 10, 2024
“Always, when you prepare for Scotland, we prepare like we are going to play New Zealand or Ireland, because they’re one of the top teams in the world.
“To beat them at Murrayfield with 17 points, yeah, maybe the scoreboard does flatter us a little bit, but we still got a good performance in.
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“We always know it’s not going to go our way. It’s going to be a bit of a grind. They’re a quality side, and they definitely stood up to us in the general play with their physicality and brought the game to us as well, so it was a good battle. It was a good Test match.
“Compliments to them. I think they were great today. We probably weren’t at our best, but we showed quality in the end to make the scoreboard like that.”
South Africa kept Scotland try-less for the second time in succession, a fact that coach Rassie Erasmus noted was even more impressive considering they have the likes of Finn Russell in their ranks.
The Springboks now move back to number one in the world rankings, with Ireland dropping to third and New Zealand up to second.
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Facing England next, Etzebeth knows full well that they need to keep getting better.
“We obviously set our standards for ourselves. We drive within the team, the players and the management. We want to keep on, keep on performing.
“And we know every now and then there’s going to be a performance that we’re not probably that proud of, and like I said, at the end of the day it was a good performance because we beat them by that margin.
“But there’s just some aspects of the game that we probably won’t be happy with and that we’ll work on and I’m sure the coaches will point it out to us, and there will be some harsh words, but also some good words. And then I think that you need that in a professional team environment.
“We always strive to be better, and that’s why I say there will be some harsh words as well.”
Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)
It looked like the Boks didnt show up. Just going through the motions and drills. Almost robotic. The score line is definitely not a true reflection of the game. Scotland were unlucky. Im sure the Boks will be much improved against "Plastic Energy" England.
I think the boks were made to work hard for the win. Which says a lot about Scotland who weren't unlucky insofar as they couldn't score tries against the Boks formidable defence. Scotland were very good around the breakdowns. All credit to them, they definitely deserve to be higher up in the rankings.
I said from the outset that Scotland would be the toughest match on this tour. And they delivered.
England, not to be too dismissive of them, are less of a threat than Scotland imo. But they are wounded and angry and can produce a win. But they're not playing to any clear plan on defense or attack - due to their coaches not having a clue.
The Boks formation is leaving them vulnerable at the breakdowns. The backline, in particular, need to clear out more and more rucks as we play across the width of the field with this 12221 (or whatever they're calling it) formation.
So I think it was quite carefully planned out that two packs of forwards (i.e. the 7/1) were played against Scotland to get match fitness and our preferred backline in Manie, DDA, Kriel, KLA, Cheslin and Fassi were rested for England.
I think England are going to have their hands full on Saturday.