A fantastic occasion, a marvellous stadium and a competitive match. The football city of Newcastle embraced most of Natal and the Borders on Saturday for the "alleged" shoot out between the big guns in Pool B. Even during the anthems, you could tell the SA's were cheating, as they were 5-6" taller than their Scottish counterparts (Richie Gray excepted). The first 15 minutes were the most brutal live rugby I have ever seen, as South Africa smashed the ball up route one relentlessly, and scored an inevitable early forwards try (although the ball was held up for 5 mins over the line). Scotland's tackle count was immense, but even though the Bokke went down to 14 following a tackle with no arms, their rolling maul tactic still proved effective and JP Pietersen exploited the extra space to score a second before half time. I hate rolling mauls, almost as much as I hate scrums (get the ball out lads, it's a 15 man game).
Scotland somehow got within one score of their dominant opposition after half time, with a great intercept from Duncan "no neck" Weir, which following great support from the two wingers, led to a try by Tommy Seymour. True to Scottish type, they then dropped the kick off, conceded three points and had a man put in the bin for a late tackle (with no pressure evident). South Africa kept coming, Scotland kept tackling, and finally the Bokke got their third try courtesy of Habana, who looked lively all day for his 32 years. It is a credit to good auld Jock spirit and fitness that SA did not score a fourth try to get the bonus point, but overall a fair result. If SA maintain that forward physicality and intensity in the knockout stages, few teams will be able to compete with them - they are peaking nicely and that Japan defeat seems a lifetime ago.
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