Scotland head coach Scott Johnson said a positive from being “nilled” by the Springboks at Murrayfield was that it could have been a whole lot worse.
Despite the 28-0 loss to South Africa, Johnson praised his team’s resolve in regrouping from a nightmare first half hour when they barely had a sniff of the ball against the No 2 side in the world.
“We said at half-time we’ve dug a pretty big hole here and we don’t want to keep digging,” he said.
“Instead we filled it in a bit. We went down early and we were down under a heap of pressure, but we got ourselves out of the jam.”
Johnson said that his side had showed that they could hold South Africa, but they were punished for their mistakes.
“That was a pretty good side we were up against. They took their chances and did really, really well,” he continued.
“The maul for the first try was wonderfully set up, but they turned over our ball and go 60 metres, then a missed tackle off a kick-off and they got length of the field. There’s a lot of skill in that but there was a lot of us in it as well.”
Johnson admitted it was “funny to say it after we’ve lost four tries” but that he was impressed by his team’s defensive resolve.
“I think the defence was resolute but that game could have gone differently considering the amount of possession they had,” he said.
“It goes to show that when we get our stuff right, they didn’t threaten after scoring early in the second half because of our resolve. It just goes to show that many of our issues are exactly that: ours alone.”
The coach added that it was early days in the Scottish campaign for the season.
“South Africa have had a good Championship since we last saw them and we’re just starting up with our Championship, if you like,” said Johnson.
“Quite a few of our No 1 back division were out. There’s a good chance for others to step up, and we learned a bit about some people today.
“Contact area we’ll have to work on. Australia showed it yesterday (against Ireland) and they were wonderful at the contact area every time Ireland got it wrong.
“It’s the same mantra I’ve been saying for six months, nothing’s changed.”
Scotland will probably be forced into further changes as the coach continues to look at options and there is now a short week until the Wallabies on Saturday.
Sunday’s skipper and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw was getting treatment on his calf injury last night.
For South Africa, flanker Francois Louw was given extended treatment on the field for a neck injury but head coach Heyneke Meyer said that the squad were hopeful he would make a quick recovery.
South Africa are due to face the Scots in the pool stage of the 2015 World Cup when it is staged south of the border.
And their head coach Heyneke Meyer was adamant the exercise was still useful, despite the overwhelming margin of victory.
He said: “Listen, you always know what to expect from Scotland.
“They’re very physical, they kept on going. We had to work hard to stop their drives. They’re very physical, very good at the breakdown.”
For further coverage from Murrayfield, see Monday’s Courier or try our digital edition.