Scotland 15-32 South Africa

The Scotsman

10/11/2024

Graham Bean and Mark Atkinson at Murrayfield.

Transcript

00:00Good evening from Murrayfield. Mark Atkinson, Sports Editor for Scotsman, joined by Graeme

00:04Bean, our Chief Rugby Writer. We just watched Scotland lose 32-15 to the Springboks. Graeme,

00:11is that scoreline slightly harsh on Scotland? It was a little harsh, yeah. I mean Scotland played

00:15well, particularly that spell in the second half where they really dominated the game for a period

00:21of what, 20-25 minutes, but they didn't score, they didn't take their chances. No tries for

00:27Scotland, unfortunately. So, in the end, that was different wasn't it? South Africa took their

00:33chances, scored four tries and eventually won with a little bit of despair. It's a familiar

00:38tale I feel with the Scotland team. They did play well, they had their moments, yet can't get over

00:44the line when it really matters. There's a lot of pride in that performance taken from the players

00:49and the management team, but there must also be frustration as well. Yeah, I think Scotland played

00:54better against South Africa today than they did in the World Cup match against Marseille,

00:58a lot better actually, which is progress of sorts, but no tries again for the second match against

01:04the Springboks. It was frustrating I think, but I think you have to bear in mind that you are

01:11playing the best team in the world and Scotland are well short of that level, you have to be honest

01:15about that. There was a moment though Graeme, which I think everyone has to talk about, the first time

01:21we've had a 20-minute red card at this stadium and it's a controversial one as well. Scott Cummings

01:28pinged for a croc tackle early on in the match. How did you view it first of all?

01:34Well, it was all a bit confusing wasn't it? Initially I think it was thought to be a croc roll,

01:37but then I think it was just a dangerous clear out and Gregor Townsend spoke afterwards and

01:44felt like Cummings was kind of shoved onto the South African player and it was kind of

01:50unavoidable, but he felt the red card was harsh. I suppose the good thing was it was only a 20-minute

01:57red card, not an 80-minute red card, but Scotland were able to bring on Max Williamson, who actually

02:03played very well for the 50 minutes he was on the field. Very impressive performance by Williamson.

02:11But yeah, it's a funny one, it's been trialled during the South African national series,

02:14the 20-minute red card, so we don't know whether it will come in as a law, but yeah,

02:20I'm not sure, it's a strange thing isn't it? I think it looked pretty innocuous on the replays,

02:26and then when you hear Gregor Townsend talking about the mitigating circumstances involved,

02:31it does feel slightly harsh, but I suppose that's why the 20-minute red card is in, because it kind

02:36of creates a bridge almost between a yellow and a permanent red. Scotland actually played quite well

02:42in that period though didn't they? They did actually, they scored a penalty almost immediately

02:45through Finn Russell, and they kind of got into the game, I don't know, it kind of galvanised them

02:50a little bit in a slight sense of injustice, but yeah, I mean there's a lot of positives to take

02:54out that performance from Scotland. It was a really hard physical game, and Scotland stood up to South

02:58Africa, you know, they matched them physically, but they just weren't able to finish their chances.

03:03How impressed were you with how South Africa closed down the key Scotland players like Finn

03:08Russell, Cyril Chupota, they never really got a moment to create something, they couldn't unpick

03:13South Africa. No, I mean there were a couple of moments, there was a try that got chopped off in

03:19the first half that Ben White scored, but Hugh Jones knocked on earlier, that was a nice

03:24move by Scotland, probably their most impressive move of the game, but I think Scotland were a

03:29little bit guilty of making a couple of errors just at the crucial moment, and the execution

03:33just wasn't there. Finn Russell, he was, you know, maybe not in the magic today, but there

03:39were enough flashes of nice things there from my thought, and I thought Jones and Tupelotu

03:44combined well, again, in moments. He maybe didn't get the ball wide as much as he might have liked to,

03:51but I thought Tom Jordan played very well at full-back. I think that's definitely worth

03:55mentioning, isn't it? Tom Jordan, a controversial picket at 15 for some people, he took the

04:02game in his stride, albeit after the first try where the tackle he put in was maybe a little bit

04:07not high, but it wasn't quite the tackle he wanted to put in, but after that he really

04:12kicked on and one of the better players in the second half. Yeah, it was his first start for Scotland, but it's also

04:16his first start at full-back in a professional game, which is incredible, and we were kind of

04:22questioning that when Gregor Townsend announced his team, but you know he really stood up to it

04:26and equipped himself really well at full-back, an excellent performance by Jordan, very encouraging.

04:31So, Scotland go halfway through the Autumn Nations series, with no disrespect to the Portuguese,

04:37the game on Saturday is a much easier affair on paper against one of the lesser-ranked nations.

04:45I imagine you're going to have changes seen significantly. Yeah, I think there'll be a lot of changes for the

04:48Portugal game. I mean, Portugal were great in the World Cup, you know, but it's a

04:53step down for Scotland, and I think there will be a lot of changes, but a lot of bruised bodies after

04:57that game today. You've got to bear in mind it's like a six-day turnaround. Of course, absolutely.

05:02Should we look forward more to the game that closes off this series? I have to say I'm really

05:06excited about it. It's Scotland-Australia. Australia got a massive win against England

05:12on Saturday, which I think has caught a lot of people by surprise. They're improving under

05:16Joe Schmidt. They come here on November 24th. It's going to be a really, really big test again for Scotland.

05:21Yeah, it's a great end to the series, isn't it? I mean, I think when these fixtures were announced,

05:25a lot of people were expecting Scotland to beat Australia quite comfortably, but I don't

05:30think that'll be the case. I think it'll be a close game. I think it'll be a really good game.

05:33Australia gets such a lift from that win over England. That was a tremendous result for them.

05:37They're improving, aren't they? Because they had a terrible World Cup, and Schmidt has come in,

05:42a very well-regarded coach, and he's got quite a quick tune-out of them. Yeah, that's a real

05:47breakthrough result for them. What a twicken-up. It's a fascinating game, yeah. Regardless, do you still think,

05:54to conclude, that Scotland should be looking for three wins out of four? You said at the beginning

05:57we all thought that three wins out of four was a realistic target. Is that still the case? I think

06:02so. I think so, yeah. I think people will expect Scotland to beat Australia. They'll certainly

06:07expect them to beat Portugal. Yes. So yeah, no, I think anything less than three wins will

06:13go down as a disappointing series for Scotland. Well, fingers crossed we have more positive

06:17to talk about. Thanks for joining me, Graeme. We'll say goodnight here from Lorryfield. All the reaction

06:22to the game and analysis and comment will be on scottsman.com and in the paper.

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