Scotland coach Frank Hadden saw plenty of positives to be taken from his side's 27-3 defeat to South Africa.
Coach staying positive after heavy loss
Scotland coach Frank Hadden admitted he would take plenty of positives from his side's 27-3 defeat to South Africa at Murrayfield.
The match was effectively over at half-time after first-half tries from trio Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie and Fourie du Preez.
But the Scots restricted the Springboks to a solitary penalty after the break leaving Hadden to reflect on a job well done.
"I think this afternoon we got exactly what we needed at this stage in our preparations and that is an extremely tough match against very, very good opposition," he said.
Imbalance
"When we looked at our pre-season preparations, about a year ago in fact, we knew it was going to be tough. We were playing a warm-up game against a side which has played 10 warm-up games.
"You're always going to get this imbalance at this stage and we looked like a side which has only played one warm-up match in some aspects.
"The accuracy of our work in the first half, especially our line-out play and our kicking, just wasn't good enough to be effective against South Africa. Being a very good side they took advantage of that.
"With the aerial ping-pong that went on with the quality of kicker we have I'd expect us to do better than that, and I think that's where you see some of the rust that I said was evident.
Strategy
"They kicked extremely well and on balance better than us, and their attacking opportunities came from them getting the better of us in that respect.
"We were unsure about our two-match strategy before these games but after today it felt like three games.
"It was fast and physical and I'm sure when we look at the video we will have gained an enormous amount from the match."
Meanwhile, Hadden went on to reveal that forward David Callam faces an anxious wait to learn the severity of a facial injury that could endanger his World Cup hopes.
The number eight took a blow to his cheek and will undergo scans to determine whether there has been a break or fracture.
"Dave Callam is the one we are most concerned about," said Hadden. "He has gone for an X-ray on his cheek."
