International Rugby preview: Scotland hope to upset South Africa
Scotland will hope to bounce back from their 49-3 defeat to the All Blacks by beating South Africa at Murrayfield on Saturday 20 November.
Scotland were thrashed by the All Blacks after going into the game full of confidence because of a four-match unbeaten run, which included a draw with England, a win against Ireland and two back-to-back
wins against Argentina.
Scotland will aim to regroup and get their season back on track with a victory against the Springboks.
Scottish coach Andy Robinson has made four changes to the side that were defeated by the All Blacks last weekend.
Scrum-half Rory Lawson replaces the injured Mike Blair and he will also take over the captaincy from Blair.
Scott MacLeod comes into the second row at the expense of lock Jim Hamilton and will form a new partnership with Richie Gray.
Nathan Hines is the other change to the forward pack and the experienced flanker comes into the team to replace Richie Vernon, who will have to be satisfied with a substitute place.
Scotland have also recalled winger Nikki Walker for Rory Lamont who defended poorly in the match with New Zealand.
Max Evans is fit to play after he picked up an injury in the last Test match. The centre will resume his solid partnership with Graeme Morrison.
South Africa will be eager to record their third win of the Autumn Internationals against Scotland.
Despite, an injury crisis, two players been suspended for failing a drugs test and pressure on the South African coach Peter de Villiers to resign, the Springboks have battled and won both their tests.
They will be expected to put in another gritty performance in the face of criticism and adversity.
South Africa beat Ireland 23-21 in their first test in a strong forward orientated display and came back in dramatic fashion against Wales to win 29-25 on Saturday 13 November.
De Villiers received a further blow this week with the news that influential winger Bryan Habana had broken his hand in training and would be ruled out for the remaining matches on the tour.
The South African coach has made three changes to the team that beat Wales. Zane Kirchner returns at full back due to the withdrawal of Habana. Gio Aplon moves to the wing to fill in for the influential
winger.
Francois Hougaard comes into the team to replace the experienced scrum-half Ruan Pienaar, while Ryan Kankowski will hope to fill in for Pierre Spies who is rested ahead of the England game on Saturday
20 November.
A depleted South African squad that started the tour without 13 squad players will go into the match against Scotland as firm favourites.
The match is expected to be a battle between both sets of forwards. South Africa will hold the advantage in the line-out with the world class second-row pairing of captain Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha.
The break down will be significant, but South Africa should have the edge over Scotland up front.
Scotland must show the same form they had prior to their Test with the All Blacks. If they can recreate a similar performance and the passionate Scottish crowd get behind their team and upset could be
on the cards.
Prediction:
Scotland 13-9 South Africa
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