Scotland v South Africa: How the players rated

SCOTLAND15 Hugo Southwell 7/10Nerves of steel to wait for a rolling ball to cross the line late on before touching down and relieving some intense Boks pressure.

14 Nikki Walker 6/10

Mostly on the periphery of the action but willing to run and carry at every rare opportunity.

13 Joe Ansbro 6/10

A bit overawed by the occasion of his debut but showed some neat stepping and deft touches that augur well for the future.

12 Graeme Morrison 8/10

One particularly fine tackle on flyer Aplon as he went scorching up the wing was part of the all-round package of sound defence.

11 Sean Lamont 7/10

Surged into Boks' 22 in carefully orchestrated line-out move that set up Parks for his drop goal.

10 Dan Parks 8/10

All Scotland's points from six penalties and a drop goal in another trademark kicking performance leavened by variation in play.

9 Rory Lawson 7/10

Hesitant and uncertain start wearing the skipper's armband but turned it round to lead the team to a tremendous victory.

1 Allan Jacobsen 8/10

A personal grudge match with Matfield and a terrier in loose play.

2 Ross Ford 7/10

A power of work in the loose with tackle after tackle.

3 Euan Murray 7/10

The tighthead absorbed some fearsome South African pressure and anchored the scrum well.

4 Richie Gray 8/10

Growing into the job at lock for his fifth cap and seems to be acquiring the streetwise factor they don't put in the coaching manuals.

5 Scott MacLeod 7/10

On course for a stormer until forced off by injury after 34 minutes to be replaced by Richie Vernon.

6 Nathan Hines 8/10

Introduced to the back row to add weight and guile and was the inspiration for the pack's impressive overall display.

7 John Barclay 9/10

After the initial Boks onslaught, bossed the broken play and launched himself more than once off the back of the scrum.

8 Kelly Brown 8/10

Lightning-fast spoiling at the breakdown to ensure the South Africans were unable to produce much quick ball to build momentum.

Replacements

Dougie Hall: Played last ten minutes. Moray Low: Played final 12 minutes at tighthead. Richie Vernon: Barnstorming second-half run through almost the entire Boks team led to fourth penalty. Ross Rennie: On for last few minutes. Chris Paterson: Less than ten minutes play to win his 101st cap.SOUTH AFRICA

15 Zane Kirchner 5/10

Fumbled a high kick in first half and couldn't deal with an awkward grubber in the second.

14 Gio Aplon 6/10

A real flyer with ball in hand but the Scots saw the danger early on and ensured he didn't have any space.

13 Frans Steyn 6/10

Rallied the defence and prevented Scotland crossing the try line but little opportunity to take the game to the home side.

12 Jean de Villiers 6/10

A class act and clinical in the tackle but all his work was in defence without any error-free go forward.

11 Lwasi Mvovo 5/10

First cap standing in for Bryan Habana but hardly got a look in.

10 Morne Steyn 6/10

Four penalties out of five was ultimately not enough for victory.

9 Francois Hougaard 6/10

Good but predictable distribution, hampered by lack of quality ball, replaced just after start of second half.

1 Tendai Mtawarira 5/10

Huffing and puffing from the 'Beast' but he was coming off second best and couldn't do much about it.

2 Bismarck du Plessis 5/10

Tendency to concede penalties and a wild punch late in the game relieved the pressure on Scotland.

3 Jannie du Plessis 4/10

Anonymous throughout and beaten in the scrum and all round the park by Jacobsen.

4 Bakkies Botha 5/10

A destructive force and effective ball carrier but couldn't do it all himself. Replaced late on.

5 Victor Matfield 3/10

As aggressive and combative has he has ever been in any of his 104 internationals but increasingly frustrated as the game drifted away.

6 Deon Stegmann 5/10

Third cap but, apart from the first few minutes, failed to dominate his Scottish counterparts in the back row. Replaced for final half hour.

7 Juan Smith 6/10

A hard day ended in bewilderment at the referee's decision to penalise him at a ruck in front of the posts that gave Parks his sixth penalty.

8 Ryan Kankowski 6/10

A couple of eye-catching breaks but they failed to result in anything productive.

Replacements

Adriaan Strauss: Into the front row when game was already lost. CJ van der Linde: Replaced the Beast for last nine minutes. Flip van der Merwe: Took over at lock for final 15 minutes. William Alberts: Scored try in 70th minute after he replaced Stegman. Ruan Pienaar: Took over at scrum half behind a disintegrating Boks pack. Patrick Lambie: Came on with 15 minutes to go and missed the conversion that might have been crucial.