South Africa coach Jake White believes that Scotland could spring a shock victory over his heavily fancied Springbok side this weekend.
Springbok coach will not underestimate Scots
South Africa coach Jake White believes that Scotland could spring a shock victory over his heavily fancied Springbok side this weekend.
Despite South Africa being overwhelming favourites White, who will field a near full-strength side on Saturday, is taking no chances ahead of the clash at Murrayfield.
"One of the things about Scotland, and they've proved it, is they can beat anybody on their day," he said ahead of his side's final World Cup warm-up game.
"I was here when they beat France (in 2006) and no-one thought they could do that."
Confidence
White singled out the Scottish pack, which he said remained a formidable force in the international game.
He added: "I did read that they might now have the biggest pack in the world, and that will give them the confidence that they can take people on up front.
"Through history, the Scots ruck very well. They are one of the teams who really use their forwards, going back to Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan, who spent a lot of time on their forward play.
"And the fact that they now have more confidence because they have got bigger and stronger and spent more time on their conditioning means they will back themselves in the forward contests, which they have always done really."
The coach paid tribute to the strength in depth Scotland have acquired in recent years.
He said: "They have players like Hugo Southwell and Allister Hogg on the bench, and Chris Cusiter and Simon Taylor are not even included - that's not a bad 22 to 24 players to have."
White also praised opposite number Frank Hadden, who he said had built a side capable of challenging the big boys in world rugby under difficult circumstances.
He said: "I think he has done an amazing amount of work for a Scottish team that doesn't really have the resources of the rest of the world.
"I mean, they only have two professional teams, a lot of their players play abroad, and for Frank to combine that team to do as well as they did against Ireland shows what sort of effort he's been putting into it."
