Etzebeth: The scoreline flattered us

11/11/2024 03:59 AM

Skipper Eben Etzebeth said there will be "harsh words" spoken in the Springbok camp in the buildup to Saturday's clash against England, after grinding out a win in Scotland.

Makazole Mapimpi scored another brace at Murrayfield as the Boks saw off a fired-up Scottish outfit 32-15 in a scrappy encounter on Sunday.

Despite opening the scoring as early as the fourth minute, the South Africans had to scrap for large parts of the match against a Scotland side that lost Scott Cummings to a 20-minute red card for a dangerous cleanout on Franco Mostert.

Etzebeth admitted post-match in Edinburgh that the Boks expected a hard grind against the Scots, who entered the weekend ranked seventh on the world rankings.

"We said from the outset Scotland are a quality team, and one of the best in the world," the towering lock said.

"I think [winning by] 17 points flatters us a bit. We knew it would be a grind of a match, and credit to them, they played well today."

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"The breakdown was really scrappy," added loose forward Kwagga Smith, who notched up his 50th Test in the green and gold jumper on Sunday. "It was a big battle.

"We talked about it at half time and it went better in the second half. We were isolated because we were late on our reactions towards the breakdown.

"I think that is something we spoke about, being together, getting together and getting into shape because that shape helps you create a clean ball. Our reactions were late.

"We were just a bit asleep. A bit too late. We got better into structure and started getting quick ball. We couldn't get quick ball [in the first half] and that helped the Scottish defence."

The Boks will regroup to face England when the world champions continue their November campaign at Twickenham, where Etzebeth expects a much-improved performance.

"At the end of the day it was a good performance because we beat them [Scotland] by that margin," he added. "There are some aspects of the game we are not happy with and will work on.

"The coaches will point that out and there'll be some harsh words, but also good words. Sometimes you need that in a professional team environment."

Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images

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