South Africa – Scotland 18:3: The Springboks beat the struggling Scots with a lightning win in the second half
South Africa made an impressive start to their title defense on Sunday as they built a strong lead in the second half, enabling them to defeat toothless Scotland 18-3 and secure a strong position in the World Cup’s ‘group of death’ to back up.
In a tense first half, two Manie Libbok penalties gave South Africa the lead, but a moralizing scrum penalty just before half-time, converted by Finn Russell, gave the Scots a real boost as they trailed 3-6 and still Went into the dressing room dreaming of a surprise.
However, the Springboks came out with renewed intensity and two tries in three minutes effectively decided the outcome.
A typically powerful series of ball throws eventually created space for Pieter Steph du Toit to storm over, and then a brilliantly disguised Libbok kick inexplicably took Kurt-Lee Arendse wide into space to catch and over line to fall and the shell-shocked Scots failed to seem capable of mounting a comeback.
South Africa now have high hopes of reaching the quarter-finals, while Scotland, ranked fifth in the world, will likely need to beat world number one Ireland to avoid exit from the group stage.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/south-africa-vs-scotland-rugby-world-cup-b1106078.html South Africa – Scotland 18:3: The Springboks beat the struggling Scots with a lightning win in the second half
