After coming last in this year’s Tri-Nations, for the second week in a row the Springboks came home with a proverbial wet sail after their narrow 14-10 win over Scotland. 

A loss to England in Twickenham will undoubtedly mark a failed year in the eyes of the faithful and scathing attacks on the early reign of Peter de Villiers.

The enigmatic coach is under heavy criticism for the playing patterns he is having the Springboks play; and again, there are question marks over the selection of his players, with key men again failing to impress against – with due respect to the Scots – second-tier opposition.

Frank Hadden's men had clearly learned a lot in one week. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then their coach and his troops had clearly learned from the 32-6 loss to the All Blacks. 

It has been quite some time since Scotland have looked so full of running, constantly taking on the advantage line to pressure the world champions, who ended up missing a huge 21 tackles. 

In the pivotal contest area, Scotland clearly outplayed the illustrious back row of the Springboks – dominating the ruck and forcing 16 turnovers.

It was a very All Black like game plan that Scotland took to the Springboks.

But it was not so much the dominance of the home team that allowed them to enter the half with a 10-0 lead, as much as the overall ineptitude of the visitors.  In the first six minutes the Springboks knocked on three times and made far too many errors with the pill in play.

With the Scottish set piece gaining parity against their renowned counterparts, the South Africans could not establish any pattern of play and the ferocity with which the Scots attacked the breakdown. 

However, questions will be asked back in the Republic as to why South Africa seem to shift their game plan week to week, with the Springboks either looking at running back at the opposition irrespective, or kicking the ball back without thought to the overall tactical view of the game.

To use the classic truism of a “game of two halves”, it appeared to be the case as the Springboks came out firing thanks largely to the shining lights of the class of 2008 – the outstanding midfield combination of Adrian Jacobs and Jean de Villiers.

The latter is ahead on points as the best inside centre in world rugby, which contrasts with last year’s world player of the year Bryan Habana, whose form is getting worse as the calendar goes by.

Likewise, the Springbok loose forward combination, often hailed as the traditional strong point of the African game, came back into the contest courtesy of an improved second-half performance from Juan Smith and the brusque Schalk Burger.

In the last 20 minutes, the Scots launched an impressive counter-offensive on the Springboks, but could not break the frantic defence of the world champions, who won the game courtesy of 14 unanswered points in the second half.

It now leaves Scotland in the perilous arrangement of being ninth in the IRB rankings, which means they may be seeded in the same position for the 2011 World Cup. This is the jinxed number in which they will now likely be placed in the same pool as the All Blacks and England.

Nevertheless, nothing can be taking away from the Scottish performance, which showed their potential in a mixed 2008.  While they almost took the Six Nations wooden spoon, they did defeat England in the tournament, and came back to beat Argentina in the second Test on Latin soil.

And with a British Lions tour on the horizon, it is likely that Scotland will add considerable presence to the famed squad when they tour South Africa next year. 

Captain Mike Blair is the form No.9 in world rugby as evidenced on the autumn internationals, and the Scottish front row, anchored by Euan Murray, equalled both All Black and Springbok packs in consecutive weeks.

The Scottish back row was outstanding, with man-of-the-match Alistair Hogg having his best international game to date – leading from the front and ruling the breakdown.

For all the impressing that Scotland did throughout the game, credit must at the end go to the victors.  It is the mark of a good team that can win even when they go long periods without dominating.

But improvement will need to be made, as England will have noted the Springboks lack of fluency; and for De Villiers' sake, the tour will need to be finished on winning note.