BATTLING SCOTLAND ARE OVERPOWERED

Springboks prove too strong for Cotter’s men, who can take conf idence from second-half surge

SCOTLAND succumbed to the power of the Springboks in a brutal World Cup match at St James’ Park last night.

But there was enough in another second-half display from the Scots to leave the squad’s confidence intact ahead of their crucial final pool game with Samoa on Saturday.

The main concern for head coach Vern Cotter may be how the players recover from a match that crackled with physicality, with full-back Stuart Hogg, and forwards Ross Ford and Josh Strauss all suffering injuries.

South Africa were sensationally outsmarted by Japan in the opening match and so returned to the formidable style of route one, power rugby against Samoa last week that few in the world can handle.

They brought that strength steaming into this clash in Newcastle from the first whistle and, for all their courage and effort, Scotland could not match it.

Despite losing the set-piece battle, No 8 David Denton put in an immense shift, Blair Cowan justified his recall with tremendous work — evidenced with 20 tackles — lock Richie Gray was similar with an impressive 21 tackles and Hogg strived to give the Boks something to think about in attack on the infrequent occasions he received ball on the front foot.

The South African physicality showed itself early in the scrum, lineout and loose, where the Scots struggled for ball. Even runners of the calibre of 6ft 9in Gray were barged back a couple of metres into the turf.

When the Boks managed to build their first concerted period of pressure, it told with the game’s opening try after 12 minutes. But there was enough controversy to enrage the hugely vocal Scottish support, with referee Nigel Owens the target of their wrath.

Television replays showed that Schalk Burger did touch the ball down, after a series of charges at the Scots line, where he was initially held up by Richie Vernon and Duncan Weir, before the ball made its way to the grass.

It was debatable whether that could be considered one movement, even with the permitted momentum, but the man whose opinion matters, referee Owens, deemed that it was.

The Springbok pack now had the scent and duly rolled a maul 20 metres into the Scotland half, earning another penalty which Handre Pollard kicked.

The Scots were not taking all of this pressure lying down and after both the try and the punishing maul, fireworks broke out with Denton and Richie Gray involved with Eben Etzebeth.

But with 17 minutes played, the scoreboard read 10-0 to South Africa and Scotland were struggling.

Even when Hogg roused the Scottish fans with another textbook take of a high ball, Greig Laidlaw was found guilty of obstruction and Owens warned the Scotland skipper — more to his team — to ‘get your discipline in order’.

Scotland fought stoically to defend their line and eventually earned points with a Laidlaw penalty on the half-hour.

In the lead-up, they lost flanker Strauss to a head knock, replaced by Ryan Wilson, and though back within minutes, he was replaced early in the second half.

With a ferocious pack, a solid front row, world-class lock Etzebeth and impressive youngster Lood de Jager — voted Man of the Match — and their tank-like back-row trio, the South African power threatened to steamroller the navy jerseys.

But they also live on the edge and Owens was slow to deal with bodies flying into rucks. After watching a replay on the big screen, he did deem a Jannie du Plessis head-lock on Gordon Reid worthy of a yellow card, but Laidlaw’s penalty fell just under the crossbar.

Hulking No 8 Duane Vermeulen then seized on the scrum-half at the base of a ruck, grabbed the ball and broke downfield. Although his off-load went to ground, the Boks earned a lineout on the Scotland 22 that proved decisive.

They mauled to within five metres of the Scots line and scrum-half Fourie du Preez picked the ball out and fed JP Pietersen, who dived through a gap from five metres to stretch the lead to 20-3 at half-time.

Laidlaw duly doubled Scotland’s score with a penalty, but Hogg did not endear himself to Owens when going down heavily after a challenge from Damian de Allende.

The official watched the replay and warned the full-back that if he fell like that again — clearly suggesting a dive — he would not be playing for two weeks.

Hogg and the rest of the Scotland team celebrated minutes later, however, when Weir intercepted a pass in his own 22 and took off downfield.

The stand-off broke to the Boks’ 22 and outsmarted one defender with a turn, before finding Tim Visser. He fed inside to Tommy Seymour and the winger dived between two tackles and over the line. Laidlaw converted and suddenly, with nine minutes of the second half played, the game had a different picture to it, with the Scots just seven points behind and St James’ Park rocking.

Within minutes, though, the mood darkened severely for the Scots. Pollard slotted a drop-goal and then, when Bryan Habana broke out following a loose pass from Weir to Seymour, the Scotland captain tackled him without the ball and was duly yellow-carded.

Even when Hogg broke out of his own 22 with a typically audacious run, that left four Springboks beaten, the full-back delivered a forward pass wide to Seymour.

The game became more open, Weir converted a penalty and the Scots’ spirit continued to rouse the crowd into voice.

Pollard replied with a penalty from halfway, and the sight of Laidlaw returning from the sin-bin was tempered by that of a distraught Hogg being forced off with a leg injury.

Sean Lamont came on for his 99th cap, and Seymour moved to full-back, with Peter Horne then replacing Vernon in midfield.

Scotland made numerous changes and enjoyed more time on the ball, but the momentum remained with the Boks and another Pollard penalty was followed by a close-range Habana try with seven minutes remaining to seal a comfortable winning margin and extinguish Scottish hopes of a bonus point.