Springboks eye rebound win over England

South Africa will this week look to put the disappointment of their loss to Scotland behind them by securing victory over England next Saturday.

The visitors scored the only try of the game, through Willem Alberts, but fell to a 21-17 loss as Dan Parks kicked Scotland to their second victory over the Springboks in 13 post-Apartheid meetings.

South Africa captain Victor Matfield appeared perplexed with some of the decisions made by referee Stuart Dickinson, but Bismarck du Plessis insisted the visitors simply did not play well enough, saying: “Every game you lose is frustrating, so definitely it was frustrating for us.

“We didn’t use the conditions as good as they did. They put us under pressure with quite clever kicks and keeping us away from their half and when they came into our half they converted it into points where we didn’t do that. We didn’t use the weather conditions.”

Du Plessis was adamant South Africa were not complacent, before or during the game and he insists the Springboks will recover and hopes for a response against England, whose confidence is restored following wins over Australia and Samoa.

“We will never rest on our laurels. We definitely didn’t think we’d pulled it back. One try could have given us the victory,” he said.

“We always pick ourselves up for England. It’s going to be a great game to play at Twickenham.

“Playing against England, in England, with a full Twickenham we’re looking forward to that.”