A Springbok can reach a fair old lick on the savannahs of the Highveld so Scotland deserve credit for matching fifteen of them yesterday pretty much stride for stride. Yet when Elton Jantjies smashed the ball into the stands to bring an end to this mesmerising Murrayfield encounter, frustration must have been as much part of the equation for Gregor Townsend and his players as pride.

The six-point margin of defeat here was agonising, not least because Scotland twice turned down a very makeable kicks at goal only to fail to make headway from line-out drives. There was a Finn Russell drop goal which dropped millimetres wide and a spell, just after half-time, when Scotland could only break at even at a penalty goal apiece while South African full back Willie Le Roux languished in the sin bin. A more ruthless streak – the kind which Scotland will need to get the better of bone-crunching match-ups like this in Japan this time next year – and our first victory against these opponents since 2010 was entirely realistic.

Scotland’s rugby players rubbed shoulders with their footballing counterparts at Oriam this week – the two backroom teams played a ‘friendly’ – but thankfully Gregor Townsend faced none of the difficulties his counterpart Alex McLeish had in putting a team out. He rang six changes from the team which ran in eight tries in a composed performance against Fiji last Saturday, most of them to solidify a forward pack for the fearsome challenge of getting up, close and personal with the Springboks.

Gordon Reid and vice-captain Stuart McInally returned in the front row, with Ben Toolis and Jonny Gray in a re-tooled second row. Sam Skinner’s bulk was accommodated at flanker this time, with Hamish Watson coming in for his Edinburgh clubmate Jamie Ritchie. Huw Jones, culpable or not for two tries in Cardiff a fortnight ago, was back at outside centre at the expense of Alex Dunbar.

South Africa arrived in Edinburgh just a solitary spot ahead of the Scots in the world rankings but with designs on being the best team on the planet when a new one is anointed in Japan this time next year. Their last four results included wins over New Zealand, Australia and France, with a narrow defeat against England. Already a good team on paper, Rassie Erasmus handed a first Test start to rapid Vodocom Blue Bulls scrum half Embrose Papier.

Last week’s hat-trick hero Seymour had claimed that the Scots, chasing a first win against the Springboks since 2010, would take a 3-0 win here but as it turned out the pre-match light show here yesterday was followed by something more spectacular. Fly half Handre Pollard was first to show, bisecting Wilson and Watson with a savage inside burst and feeding his clubmate Papier, with winger Sbu Nkosi bearing down on the Scottish line by the time the hosts were able to stem the flow. Jesse Kriel battered over the line from Papier’s quick feed and Pollard potted the conversion.

There was huge try-saving tackle from Stuart Hogg, soon of Exeter Chiefs, on the rampaging Malcolm Marx in there too, but this Scotland team are as scinitlliating on their day as any in world rugby and they were about to serve up a try which will live long in the memory of anyone who was there to see it. Finding the South African rush defence in his face, Huw Jones’ answer was to find Sean Maitland with a sublime pass out of the back-of-the-hand. The wing dragged Papier about 30 yards upfield before finding Jones again, who again had the foresight to use the back of the hand to find his fellow centre Peter Horne who was on his shoulder. After an agonising wait for the TMO to confirm that none of these flicks were forward, an instant YouTube classic was born. When Laidlaw converted the Scots were level.

If that was the positive side of Scottish ambition, a triple miss pass from Hogg in his own 22 only played Jones into difficulty. Again there was the sight of South African backs outpacing Scottish forwards, Maitland slipping as he tracked Nkosi in off his wing and leaving the line free for Pollard to run in for his second try of the afternoon. The fly half again handled the conversion easily, and would add two penalties before the end of that first half.

It is hard to keep up with a Springbok in full flight but it was to Scotland’s credit that they did so. Their second try of that breathless opening 40 was another thing of beauty, a piece of arch Townsend lineout innovation after an electric 60-yard break from Hogg which had forced Le Roux to hack into touch at his own goalline. With the big men all preparing for a pass which never came, Watson skipped round the front almost untouched.

Not all of Le Roux’s interventions were well timed, mind you, the full back correctly adjudged to have deliberately knocked on a long Horne pass shortly after the re-start. Having declined a straightforward kick at goal to level at 23-23 just after the hour, Scotland didn’t look the same after Hogg left the fray with an injury. While there was rare respite as Pollard hooked a kick wildly past, the sound of a Vuvuzela could be heard as substitute Jantjies doubled the lead to six points.

Scoring sequence (Scotland first ): 0-7, 7-7, 7-14, 7-17, 10-17, 17-17, 17-20 (half-time), 20-20, 20-23, 20-26

Scorers:

Scotland:

Tries: Horne (18), Watson (33)

Conversions: Laidlaw 2

Penalty goals: Laidlaw (26, 46)

South Africa:

Tries: Kriel (6), Pollard (20)

Conversions: Pollard 2

Penalty goals: Pollard (25, 39, 49) Jantjies (72)

Yellow card: Le Roux (45)

Scotland: S Hogg (C Harris, 63); T Seymour, H Jones, P Horne ( Hastings, 68), S Maitland; F Russell, G Laidlaw (captain; A Price, 63); G Reid (A Dell, 45), S McInally (F Brown, 55), WP Nel (S Berghan, 55), B Toolis, J Gray, S Skinner (J Ritchie, 72), H Watson, R Wilson (J Strauss, 55).

South Africa: W Le Roux; S Nkosi (C Kolbe, 63), J Kriel, D De Allende (E Jantjies, 57), 1A Dyantyi; H Pollard, E Papier (I Van Zyl, 78); S Kitshoff (T Du Toit, 58), M Marx (B Mbonambi, 66), F Malherbe (V Koch, 58), R Snyman (L De Jaeger, 60), F Mostert, S Kolisi (captain; F Louw, 66), P-S Du Toit, D Vermeulen.