Stuart McInally – ‘South Africa most physical team in world’
Scotland vice-captain Stuart McNally has rated South Africa as ‘the most physical team in world rugby’ ahead of the sides’ clash at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Scotland have lost just one of their last nine matches at Murrayfield and that came last year to New Zealand. While they are coming off the back of a confidence-boosting 54-17 win over Fiji, they know South Africa will present their sternest challenge since that loss to New Zealand.
The Springboks showed their undeniable potential with victory over the All Blacks in September and are coming off a 29-26 victory over France last weekend.
“It was good to get our attack sorted last week and score some really good tries, but it’s going to be a very different challenge,” McInally told ESPN.
“They’re probably the most physical team in world rugby so that’s a huge challenge, for our forward pack especially but also throughout the team. Rassie Erasmus has certainly had a very positive approach on them and we’re now seeing what we always expect from South Africa, a very physical side with good strategy behind them.
“South Africa pride themselves on having an excellent set-piece, there are some very good forwards in there and they’ve got a really good scrum as well. It’s a great challenge for us as a forward pack to test ourselves against arguably one of the best packs in the world.
“I look at Malcolm Marx in particular, he’s someone who I’ve watched a bit of over the last 18 months and I think he’s an exceptional player. So he’s going to be a big threat to us in terms of what he offers around the pitch, in attack as well as defence.”
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In the period since Gregor Townsend took over as head coach, Scotland have claimed memorable victories over Ireland, Wales, Australia and England, something that has resulted in plenty of pride and optimism within the camp.
“It does give you confidence to know that we have done well over the last nine or 10 games. We’re proud of that and we’re looking to put in another good performance at the weekend,” said hooker McInally, who will win his 21st international cap on Saturday.
“We love playing at Murrayfield, especially in front of the crowds that Scottish Rugby has been able to attract recently. It’s brilliant and all the players enjoy playing at home.
“We don’t speak about it as, ‘we’re at home so we must win’. We just love playing at home and it’s special for us. We just try and put our best game out there and a lot of times at home we’ve done enough to win, which is fantastic.”
McNally believes the clash with the Boks will be a barometer of their progress.
“It’s a chance to see where we are at,” McInally added. “They’re one of the best teams in the world and certainly we’ve got a massive challenge this week, one we’re very excited about but it will be great to see where we are at going into such a big year, it’s great that we get to play these teams and playing them at home is even better.”