As the dust settled on a truly breathless encounter in Pretoria, there was a strange mix of emotions felt among the Scotland players.
They could take pride in the fact they pushed South Africa all the way. They scored four tries, played some outstanding rugby, and went toe-to-toe with the world champions in their own backyard.
This was night and day from some of the most recent matches against the Springboks. When these teams met in Marseille in the 2023 World Cup, Scotland barely fired a shot.
When they met at Murrayfield in the autumn of 2024, it was a similar story. South Africa won 32-15, with all of Scotland’s points coming from the boot of Finn Russell.
That was 160 minutes of rugby in which they had failed to score a try against the Boks. Truth be told, they hadn’t even come close.
At Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, Scotland ripped through South Africa at times in what was an absolutely enthralling Test match in the Nations Championship.
Ben White’s try brought Scotland within seven points of South Africa with ten minutes to play
But they also left a couple of tries out there — and that’s what ultimately left the players nursing a slight sense of what might have been.
Seeking to make history and claim a first ever victory over South Africa on their own soil, will Scotland ever get a better chance than this?
Especially given that South Africa were without so many star names, making ten changes in total from their win over England on the opening weekend, this match was there for Scotland.
Heading into the final 10 minutes, when they had fought back to within seven points, a seismic win was within their grasp.
Gregor Townsend stated afterwards that he believed his team would go on and win from there. He was not the only one.
Yet, for all the final outcome was one of disappointment, there was encouragement to be found in the fact that Scotland went away from home and competed with the best team on the planet.
Insisting that there has been huge progress made, scrum-half Ben White said: ‘Yes, there was a mixture of pride and frustration.
White is left emptied at the end of a titanic effort from a battling Scotland side in Pretoria
‘We’re disappointed because we believe in the group and how far we’ve come in the last 12 months.
‘There were long periods in that game where we were on top and showed the quality that we’ve got against the world’s best opposition.
‘We’ve got to keep working, keep believing in our group and how we want to play and the ability we have — and keep doubling down on that.
‘Gregor, Sione and others have spoken about what we’ve taken from those games. It definitely brought the group closer together.
‘We’ve talked about our DNA, how we want to play and the belief that we have in each other. And we’re going to stick to that.
‘We’re going to stick to how we want to play and the ability we have, no matter who we play against. And I think we showed that against South Africa.’
When the Scotland players sit down to do their video analysis session, what should irk them is the fact that they effectively conceded four tries in four minutes in either half.
Having scored one try, South Africa immediately went straight upfield and scored another within 60 seconds. That happened twice.
In particular, for a 10-minute period midway through the second half, Scotland became sloppy. Townsend’s side failed to punish the Boks when they were down to 14 men.
Zachary Porthen scores South Africa’s fifth try to give his side a cushion on the way to victory
But the positives were plentiful. Scott Cummings, Matt Fagerson and Sione Tuipulotu were absolutely magnificent. Gregor Hiddleston also gave a thunderous contribution from the bench and demonstrated why, long-term, he’s the future at hooker.
From Scotland’s point of view, there really wasn’t a failure. There was so much to like and admire in their performance. But they also just lacked a clinical edge in that period when the Boks were down to 14 men. Along with a couple of missed tackles at times, that’s really as picky as you could be.
Tuipulotu underlined why he might just be the best 12 in world rugby right now, while his Glasgow team-mates Cummings and Fagerson were colossal in matching the Boks’ physicality.
Cummings also made one excellent line break in the second half where he created a try for Josh Bayliss as Scotland fought back to tee up a thrilling finale.
It was White who scored the try which brought them to within seven points with ten minutes to play — and they would have two more chances thereafter.
The best of them came via a cross-field kick from Russell which fell agonisingly beyond the reach of Kyle Steyn. On such fine margins are games won and lost.
Scotland may have lost the war, but this was a day when they emerged with plenty of credit. They will look to round off their summer campaign with a win over Fiji at Murrayfield next weekend.
Kyle Rowe breaks clear to score Scotland’s second try in what was an encouraging display
It is technically an away game, with Fiji being the home side, but White is determined to finish the summer on a high.
‘Listen, we love playing at Murrayfield,’ he said. ‘We love playing in front of our home crowd. And we want to make sure that the whole stadium’s rocking and excited to watch Scottish rugby played at the highest level.
‘We want to make them proud and put smiles on their faces. That’s what we want to do. And that’s how we want to play rugby.
‘So, we’ll be really excited about the opportunity to play a summer game at Murrayfield in front of a big crowd, a home crowd, and put on a performance that the team and the fans can be proud of and be as one.’
