NOW WE ARE BOKS OFFICE
Hogg: World champs show they rate Scots
STUART HOGG believes South Africa’s team selection for Saturday’s Murrayfield showdown shows the respect that the world champions now have for Scotland.
Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has picked his strongest possible side, with Duane Vermeulen, Eben Etzbeth, Damian de Allender, Lukhanyo Am and skipper Siya Kolisi all set to start.
The Scots team will be announced at lunchtime today but skipper Hogg is certain to be in it and he said: “They are world champions for a reason.
“They have some of the best individual players and as a collective are incredibly strong, as is the side they have named.
“I see that as a huge respect to us and shows how far we have come.
“In saying that, no matter what team they put out it would have been incredibly strong.”
Hogg would love to help Scotland follow up their win over Australia on Sunday by claiming another huge result.
The full-back, speaking in his role as an ambassador for the charity Laureus Sport for Good at an event in Edinburgh, added: “We are not getting too far ahead of ourselves but we have had some big wins over the last 18 months or so and are excited for the opportunity to take on the world champions.
“They have played some very nice rugby over the past couple of years and for us to have an opportunity to play against them in front of our fans, our people, is fantastic.”
Meanwhile, Scotland centre Chris Harris has a score to settle against Lukhanyo Am on Saturday.
The 30-year-old went head-to-head against the Springbok vice-captain twice during the Lions tour in the summer – and came off second best both times.
The centres first faced each other when the tourists lost 17-13 to South Africa A in the build-up to the Test series, then again in the Second Test in Johannesburg two weeks later, when Am scored again in a thumping 27-9 win. Now Harris is hoping he can make it third time lucky.
Harris said: “He’s a physical player who is playing really well at the moment, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I like the challenge. He’s a bit of an all-rounder. He’s an aggressive defender but the whole South African backline are pretty aggressive.
“We’ll look at how to get around that but it’s definitely a challenge I’m looking forward to.”
The battle between Harris and Am in the middle of the park is likely to be crucial in deciding the outcome.
But Harris insists that won’t distract him from his main focus of helping to secure a first Scotland win over South Africa since 2010.
He said: “I’m not going to get over involved in that, I’ll just focus on my game. Every week I’m aware of my opposite number and the guys around him so nothing changes.”
The Springboks are seeking their seventh win on the bounce against the Scots – but Harris believes Gregor Townsend’s men can snap that losing streak.
He added: “They’re a decent outfit and had a hard-fought win against Wales last weekend so it’s going to be tough .
“It will be slightly different to what we experienced against Australia but we have enough experience in the squad and the right coaching group to put us in a good place.
“It’s going to be about getting the balance right. You play your own way but you still need to have an awareness of the opposition. “We’ll look to impose our game on them. I think there will be opportunities to play a bit of rugby but you can’t be caught over-playing at the same time. “We have developed as a group over the last four years, and I’ve seen that with boys growing into leadership roles. “We are in a decent place and have a good bunch of boys who can really kick on now. “We’ve had a pretty decent nine to 12 months where we’ve really started to perform. “We’ve a really tight group now too and everyone is working hard on the training field. “Hopefully we can finish these fixtures on a high and then look forward to giving the Six Nations
It is a huge respect to us and shows how far we have come STUART HOGG REACTS TO SPRINGBOKS’ TEAM