South Africa hooker Bismarck du Plessis: ‘We’re not through yet’

SCOTLAND were last night sweating over the availability of three likely starters for the pivotal Rugby World Cup meeting with Samoa in Newcastle on Saturday, with hooker Ross Ford and centre Matt Scott joining back row John Hardie in the queue of players still required to complete concussion protocols before head coach Vern Cotter names his team on Thursday.

On the rare occasions when Scotland pushed into the Boks half, the South Africans smothered them, backs Willie le Roux and Pietersen always looking unsafe and ready to break out.

“They dominated in their contact area and we struggled to move forward”, he said. Nobody knew who Samoa were in 1991 but we put our small island on the map when we won in Wales.

“Is there a reason why we’ve started slowly in all three games?”

But while satisfied with South Africa’s performance on Saturday, he thinks the Scots are going places.

JP Pietersen added a second just before half-time after Scotland’s vulnerability to the driven maul again shone through.

And he played down suggestions that the Samoans will be pushovers, now they are out of contention for the quarterfinals.

“They were real good players”.

There were no frills to South Africa’s play against Scotland as they reverted to tactics that have served them so well down the years – kick for territory and use their powerful pack to batter holes in the opposition defence.

“After losing to Japan that’s Samoa’s World Cup over”.

“It’s down to Scotland now to go and win that now”.

In private, Scotland might also admit to having a few of their confidence knocked after the drubbing handed out by South Africa.

“Jim Telfer decided that we were going to physically confront Samoa, that we’d meet physicality with physicality”, said Chalmers of Scotland’s 28-6 win.

Gray was proud to see numerous youngsters he coached in Gala – where he still lives, working out of a suitcase when the SARU need him – as part of the Scotland team.

The Springboks finished strongly, and when Habana forced his way over for their third try, which went unconverted, they had seven minutes left to get a fourth and a bonus point.

“The only thing that made it any easier today is because there were no Gala boys in the Scotland team”.

Gray identified the will to make up for the “disaster” of the Japan game as the key to South Africa’s turnaround.

The tempo and accuracy of the Springbok game have improved since the veteran of 73 tests was drafted back into the side, probably before he was quite ready, following long-term injury. I’ve just been up against De Jager and Etzebeth, two world-class locks. A closely contested game, very physical. I think I have absolutely made the right decision and I have loved my time in Glasgow.

“I’m not one for many words so I’ll lead from the front on Saturday”, said Du Preez.

“We know he can run and he can tackle but he was tactically brilliant”.

“It was a clinical performance”. If ever there’s any doubt, it should go to the defending side. “It’s about being legal, trying to get in early, and trying to disrupt what they’re trying to do”.