South Africa have begun the defence of their Rugby World Cup title in winning fashion courtesy of a clinical 18-3 victory over Scotland in Marseille this evening.
The Springboks scored two tries in the space of three second-half minutes to take the game away from Scotland, who could not break down the holders' stubborn defence throughout the 80 minutes.
Gregor Townsend's side held their own in the physicality stakes for the most part, and it was still anybody's game when the two sides went into half time with only three points separating them.
Manie Libbok's two penalties were enough to give South Africa that half-time lead - an advantage which was halved by a Finn Russell response just before the break, although those proved to be Scotland's only points of the contest.
The champions surged clear in the 10 minutes immediately after the restart, with Pieter-Steph Du Toit crashing over and a moment of magic from the boot of Libbok creating a try for Kurt-Lee Arendse moments later.
From there, the three-time winners of the competition used all of their experience to see out the contest, with Scotland unable to land any serious blows against a near-faultless Springbok defence.
Townsend's men may have complaints at Jesse Kriel not being shown a red card for an incident very similar to the one which saw Tom Curry permanently dismissed in England's win over Argentina on Saturday night, but they were second best on the day and failed to make the most of the few promising openings they did create.
Scotland went into the tournament ranked the fifth-best team in the world but still only the third-best team in their group, and they now face an uphill battle to qualify from Pool B which would likely see them need to beat world number one Ireland.
Tonga are next up for the Scots after a two-week break, while South Africa take on Romania next Sunday in a match they will be expected to win by a big margin.
Barney Corkhill
