Scotland v Springboks: Winners and losers as Rassie Erasmus’ ‘gamble’ pays off while Scott Cummings’ blunder proves costly

Jared Wright 10 Nov 2024 8:22 PM

Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth and Scotland's Zander Fagerson with an insert of Scott Cummings.

Following the Springboks’ 32-15 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield in the Autumn Nations Series, we select our winners and losers.

Rassie Erasmus gambled by naming seven forwards and just one back on his bench in order to be fresh for this encounter and the clash against England next week at Twickenham Stadium.

The ploy paid off as South Africa marched to victory and now set up a showdown with a hurting England team that fell to Australia.

Scotland put up a good fight against the back-to-back World Cup winners but ultimately did not have enough to get the job done.

Without further ado, here are our winners and losers.

Winners

Makazole Mapimpi

The veteran winger was one of the many surprise selections by Erasmus for the fixture but once again he rose to the occasion and delivered a stunning showing, scoring twice and keeping Blair Kinghorn quiet for much of the match.

Makazole Mapimpi was also excellent under the high ball and while he did spend ten minutes in the sin bin, it was at a time that the Boks were under pressure and far from just his fault.

At 34 years old, even the veteran winger admits that he is unlikely to remain in the squad for the World Cup in Australia but at the moment, he is still producing standout performances at the highest level.

Eben Etzbeth

It hasn’t always gone Eben Etzebeth’s way when he has skippered the Springboks but today he was on song leading his team to victory with usual captain Siya Kolisi on the bench.

Scotland managed to hassle the Springboks at the breakdown and in the lineouts while hooker Ewan Ashman landed a hefty blow on the most capped Bok of all-time. Still, Etzebeth recovered to put in a man-of-the-match performance for South Africa as he continues his incredible form in Green and Gold this year.

He will be licking his lips with the prospect of taking on England next week.

Thomas du Toit

Frans Malherbe’s injury was a massive blow before the tour but it presented an even bigger opportunity for Thomas du Toit who has been biding his time on the bench and in the squad.

He not only rose to the challenge of taking on his former U20s teammate Pierre Schoeman in the scrums but thrived in it with a strong scrummaging performance and a brilliant runaway try.

Du Toit would be an automatic starter on both sides of the scrum for most international teams and he is bound to get the starting role for at least another week.

Springboks blow Scotland away to kickstart their November tour with flattering win

Zander Fagerson

Andy Farrell will be reviewing this match as he starts to pencil in some of his touring British & Irish Lions squad members and Zander Fagerson must surely be in his discussions at the very least.

A Lions tourist in 2021, Fagerson impressed once again this week as he managed to hold his own for much of the match at scrum time against the brilliant Ox Nche, while he threw his weight around on defence too.

He really is one of the best tightheads in the Northern Hemisphere right now.

Rory Darge

Scotland were superb at the breakdown against the Springboks and Rory Darge led the charge along with Grant Gilchrist. The flanker may well be in the mix for the Lions come next year but today he showed why he is such a key player for Gregor Townsend with another mighty performance.

Andre Esterhuizen

After his last Test ended in a red card, Andre Esterhizen headed into this fixture with a point to prove and boy did he.

The Springboks midfielder was brutally effective with ball in hand as he hammered into the Scottish defence and was just as impactful on defence limiting the influence of Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones.

Damian de Allende is almost certain to start against England next week but Esterhuizen produced the kind of showing that might make Erasmus ponder whether he should be included on the bench. Still, a start against Wales in the last Test of the year is certainly on the cards.

Rassie Erasmus

His face for most of the match did not suggest that he was a winner as the Springboks’ head coach looked livid more often than not when the cameras panned to the coaching box.

Still, he will be happy with the result and perhaps not the overall performance after his 7-1 split gamble. The ploy was implemented to have a fresh forward pack to tackle England and while Scotland gave a good account of themselves, all but Etzebeth did not need to go the full 80 minutes.

It means that the Boks are quite well placed to front up against England who have lost several key players for the encounter.

Tom Jordan

It was a big ask from Townsend to select Tom Jordan at full-back in just his second match for his country but the Glasgow star took it in his stride.

Usually, Jordan features at fly-half for his club but today, he shone in the number 15 jersey and produced an assured performance against the best team in the world.

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Losers

Scott Cummings

One can argue that the Scotland lock was hard done by with his sending-off but frankly, Scott Cummings should know better with the emphasis on stamping out the croc roll.

He rolled the dice and came up short as his game was ended early. He may have a case at the disciplinary hearing but if not, his November could be done and dusted too.

England

England were pushed to the final whistle by Australia on Saturday in a rather taxing defeat. Steve Borthwick has also lost the services of Tom Curry and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso through injury – two standouts for the team this November.

They will now face a Bok team that will have at least one fresh pack that is raring to go while many of the stars in the backline were also rested against the Scots.

The weekend’s results have also seen England drop to seventh place in the world rankings, their lowest position since Eddie Jones took charge of the team back in 2016.

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Gregor Townsend

This was the ideal opportunity for Gregor Townsend to notch up his first win over the Springboks since taking charge of the team but ultimately his team fell short. The red card undoubtedly played a role in the result even though they were down a man for only 20 minutes. But still, for long periods of this match, Scotland were in with a chance but just couldn’t find that killer blow.

Duhan van der Merwe

Andre Esterhuzien effectively laid down a challenge to Duhan van der Merwe in the media this week but the South African-born speedster failed to rise to it.

It was one of Van der Merwe’s quietest Test matches in recent memory as he was shut down, put under pressure and made mistakes.

Kwagga Smith

Springboks flanker Kwagga Smith has been sensational in recent times off the bench for South Africa but he did not produce that form in his 50th Test match.

Starting in the number eight jumper, Smith made uncharacteristic handling errors and conceded a few penalties. He is bound to play again next week and may well start too after Siya Kolisi sported a nasty bruise on his face.