Scotland 15-30 South Africa: Boks produce a strong power game to win at Murrayfield
Makazole Mapimpi and Stuart Hogg scored two tries apiece for South Africa and Scotland respectively but Elton Jantjies slotted three penalties with Handre Pollard adding two and Frans Steyn also adding a long-range effort to punish Scotland
Last Updated: 13/11/21 3:38pm
South Africa's dominance at the set-piece and at the breakdown laid the platform for a convincing 30-15 win over Scotland Murrayfield on Saturday.
Stuart Hogg became a Scotland record holder after a double against South Africa, but the world champions kicked their way to a 30-15 victory at BT Murrayfield.
Hogg scored two tries to take him up to 24 for Scotland and join Tony Stanger and Ian Smith at the top of the all-time list.
Gregor Townsend's side matched the Springboks for tries, with Makazole Mapimpi also crossing twice and the hosts led 10-8 at half-time.
But the visitors' control and physicality saw them comfortably win the penalty count and they kicked themselves out of sight in the final quarter of the Autumn Nations Series game.
Scotland faced a difficult opening, not helped by early handling errors from Finn Russell and Hogg, and they conceded five penalties in the opening 11 minutes.
They stole a line-out on their five-metre line though, before Duhan van der Merwe turned defence into attack in devastating fashion after another turnover.
The South Africa-born winger ran from the try line to the halfway line before forcing a penalty which Russell kicked over from 40 metres after the visitors were further punished for dissent.
Russell soon missed another penalty from similar range but a tougher angle and the home side were warned about the number of penalties they were conceding before Elton Jantjies kicked the visitors level.
Mapimpi went over in the 28th minute having evaded two despairing tackles after the visitors got an overload on the left wing.
Jantjies was well off target with the conversion and Scotland pushed forward before Hogg got his first try in the 34th minute following good possession. Russell kick out wide to Van der Merwe for the second time in a minute and there were a series of offloads from the winger, Sam Skinner and Chris Harris before Hogg went over.
Russell converted but missed a good penalty chance to extend the half-time lead - seconds after visiting head coach Jacques Nienaber made three front-row substitutions rather than wait for half-time.
Nienaber also swapped scrum-halves at half-time with Cobus Reinach coming on and his side stepped up a gear.
Van der Merwe was robbed in the air and Mapimpi soon went over inside three minutes of the restart following a good burst of pace and a perfectly-timed pass from Damian de Allende.
Jantjies kicked the conversion plus two penalties before Hogg burst over again in the 59th minute. Scotland moved the ball quickly from left to right after a line-out and Van der Merwe's one-handed offload sent the captain running into yards of space to cross.
Russell missed the conversion to leave the deficit at six, but Scotland soon forced a penalty deep in visiting territory following a kick and chase.
However, South Africa stole the resulting line-out and the world champions turned the screw in the final quarter.
Their physicality forced a number of penalties which proved the difference. Handre Pollard kicked two and Frans Steyn added one from long range to secure an ultimately comfortable away win.
