South Africa strike down Scots with impressive win
Last Updated: 03/10/15 11:54pm
Scotland's bid to reach the World Cup quarter-finals will go down to the wire after they suffered a 34-16 defeat to South Africa at St James' Park.
The Dark Blues could have clinched a place in the knockout rounds had they seen off the Springboks in Newcastle.
But instead they will now have to beat Samoa at the same venue in a week's time or else risk suffering the same nightmare they went through four years ago in New Zealand when they failed to escape their group.
The Tartan Army were expected to pour over the border and pack out the 52,000-capacity ground, but there was a sizeable South African support present in the north east to cheer on the Boks, who now top Pool B, a point in front of the Scots, with Japan a further two back.
Their team stormed ahead within 13 minutes when a combination of Schalk Burger, Bismarck du Plessis and Duane Vermeulen managed to force through the Scottish defence and get the ball grounded, with Burger seemingly the man adding the scoring touch.
There was no doubting the next score two minutes before the break when JP Pietersen crashed over.
Scotland touched down when Tommy Seymour finished off after Duncan Weir's daring solo run but Bryan Habana removed any doubt with his side's third try seven minutes from time.
It was Scotland's third match in 10 days but head coach Vern Cotter knew defeat would not be a fatal blow to his side's qualification hopes. Clearly, with one eye on next Saturday's clash with the Samoans, that is why he named a side missing what could reasonably be regarded as five of his first picks when fit.
It has been a patchy year for the Boks. November was the last time they managed back-to-back wins and no one needs reminding of the humiliation they suffered against Japan in Brighton two weeks ago.
But from the off there was little doubt they would follow up last weekend's morale-restoring success over Samoa with another victory.
While the South Africans were imperious at the line-out, Scotland hooker Fraser Brown struggled to get on the same wavelength as the Gray brothers, Richie and Jonny.
The tempo of the Scottish ball from the breakdown just was not rapid enough and with their momentum stalled, the muscle-bound Boks simply powered through some limp tackling.
The Scots were running on empty by the time Habana collected from Adriaan Strauss before squeezing over in the corner, although Pollard missed with the conversion.