South Africa v Scotland: Narrow miss on famous win

WE HAVE been here before in South Africa. Different place, a decade ago, but the agony of stunning a South African side expected to trample over Scotland, yet not finishing the job, reared its ugly head again.

Scott Johnson. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Beforehand, many Scots would have settled for a 13-point loss, such was the apparent gulf in quality and experience between the sides, but after witnessing this pulsating encounter, the feeling was one of great frustration.

Ten years ago in Durban’s famous King’s Park, Scotland were denied victory when Nathan Hines went to touch down what would have been the match-winning score in the final minutes, only for the ball to be knocked from his hand a yard above the line, and the hosts held on for a 29-25 win.

With the scoreboard reading 17-6 to Scotland with 48 minutes played in this wonderful Nelspruit venue on Saturday, the excitement that the 30,000 home support had initially felt at seeing an engrossing, fast-paced game had been replaced by a nervousness among the “Bokke”. Could Scotland be on the verge of an historic first win on African soil in more than 60 years of Tests? And this Scotland team – missing more than 20 Test players to British and Irish Lions duty, a long injury list, poor form and selection aimed at the future? But then another big Scotland lock’s hand was played, and the game turned.

Jim Hamilton has been the unsung hero on many occasions for Scotland, but his penchant for off-the-ball battles cost him and his team dearly on Saturday. He did not deserve a yellow card for pushing Eben Etzebeth, but the experienced forward should never have given the officials a decision to make. His sin-binning was not the reason Scotland lost the Test, but it played a part in the crucial momentum shift.

When Matt Scott scored the game’s first try, after 21 minutes, from a fine chip-and-chase by debutant Tommy Seymour and good forward work led by Hamilton and Ryan Wilson in the 22, Scotland were in command of this Test match. And Scott felt it.

“We knew we were up against it, but we came out with all guns blazing and you just get a vibe of how the game is going to go,” he said. “After the first five minutes I knew that we were more up for it than them and knew we’d have a chance of winning, especially when we went however many points ahead.

“I felt ‘we have a great chance here’, and though we suffered when we got the yellow card, we were still in it up until the very last play, just six points behind, so I felt we could win it the whole way through. It was a really good team effort.”

Scotland had lost fly-half Ruaridh Jackson and Ryan Wilson before half-time to painful injuries and both had been influential in attack and defence. Minutes after the break, Jackson’s replacement Peter Horne turned awkwardly chasing a kick and fell in agony.

Surprisingly, the physios let him stay on, but in the next attack – which led to Scotland’s second try – he went down again with what looked suspiciously like serious ligament damage.

So, Greig Laidlaw moved to stand-off, Henry Pyrgos came on at scrum-half, and while both played well, it inevitably changed calls and leaders, and upset the balance for a spell. Scotland had just gone 17-6 ahead with a finely-crafted try for Alex Dunbar, after Tim Swinson – he, Peter Murchie and Seymour all had impressive debuts – had made a great burst towards the posts, and cool heads and slick hands combined to put the centre into the left-hand corner.

But South Africa were fighting tooth and nail for a way back in and Scotland handed it to them. First, Dunbar shoved wing Bryan Habana off-the-ball on a chase, to which Welsh assistant referee Nigel Hennessey drew the attention of referee Roman Poite. It resulted in a penalty, lineout, driven maul and 
penalty try, when it collapsed on the Scottish line. Morne Steyn’s conversion cut Scotland’s lead to 17-13.

Then Hamilton lunged at Etzebeth after play had stopped on the touchline, pushing his hand into his face and Etzebeth backwards in front of Hennessey. The assistant referee did not make a decision on the sanction, so Poite referred it to TMO Gerrie Coetzee, who recommended a yellow card.

As Hamilton trooped off, South Africa and the Mbombela crowd seemed to rise as one. The stadium roared, Scotland lost a lineout over the tail and the Boks attacked the Scottish 22. There was some great tackling from Scottish players, but, eventually, the dam burst when full-back Willie le Roux joined the attacking line, adding an extra man, to draw a defender and put JJ Engelbrecht into the gap and over. Steyn converted.

Scotland fought back, but South African were confident now, a bench of proven Test players and Super Rugby stars entered the fray and Scotland’s accuracy and effectiveness slipped. The Bok with Ayrshire roots, Pat Lambie, kicked the lead to six points and, in the final act of the game, Jan Serfontein wriggled out of two tackles to slip over and add an undeserved gloss to the score.

“Before the game we set out to restore pride and make people at home proud of us, and I think we definitely did that,” said Scott, “but we’re gutted about the result. It is so frustrating. We put in so much effort and didn’t come away with anything, but, on the positive side, it is definitely a step in the right direction.”