'Locked in' - Scotland reflect on missed opportunity, team identity and not caving in

Scotland flanker Matt Fagerson has admitted to frustration after what he feels was a ”missed opportunity” to secure a first win over South Africa since 2010.

Gregor Townsend’s side pushed the Springboks all the way but ultimately fell to a 42-28 defeat at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. It leaves them with one win and one defeat from their opening two Nations Championship matches.

The visitors trailed 14-0 but were able to level the scores at 14-14 before half time with tries from Fagerson and Kyle Rowe. The Boks ran in the next three tries to establish a commanding lead but the Scots fought back with two more of their own from Josh Bayliss and Ben White, securing a bonus point at the least.

Scotland flanker disappointed by missed chances that could have changed South Africa result

One final try from the home side put the game beyond doubt and continued Scotland’s record of having never beaten the Springboks in South Africa. “Frustration is probably the top word,” explained Fagerson.

“I feel like it's a missed opportunity. We had a lot of chances to put them away. I probably didn't get the rub of the green in a few of them, but yeah, probably a lot of chances and then a couple of penalties later on which probably flattered the score line a little bit, but disappointment's probably the key ones.

“We came out here knowing what the challenge was going to be, but we had confidence in the group and what we were going to put out there. We knew that if we stuck to our guns we could get a result. I think that's probably the disappointing thing, that we probably let it slip a little bit and let it get out of our grasp.”

Scotland set to end Summer section of Nations Championship against Fiji at Murrayfield

Next up for Scotland will be Fiji at Murrayfield in a Test where the Pacific Islanders are technically classed as the ‘home team’. However, Fagerson is looking forward to ending their summer campaign in familiar surroundings.

He added: “The way the schedule has worked out we’ve got the best part of the draw that we’ve been away for two or three weeks and then we get to finish up at home and play in front of our friends and family.”

A positive result from that match will ensure the first part of their inaugural Nations Championship goes down as a success having beaten Argentina in Cordoba in round one. It’s particularly pleasing for Fagerson after their disappointing defeat to Los Pumas in November.

“Last week Argentina scored early then we came back and we put them away comfortably although we leaked a couple at the end. Even on Saturday we were down 14-0 away from home against the Springboks and we didn’t cave in like we saw England do last week.

“We spent a lot of time as a group together and the hurt we had from Argentina in the autumn, we felt we'd righted those wrongs in the Six Nations and we'd become a group that could recognise momentum swings and we were trying to play on that in the middle third as well. If we'd gone over the line on a couple of those chances it might be a different score line.

“We're building something pretty special here. Over the last five or six years we've locked in what our identity is and who we are, I think everybody's on the same page as in that.”

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