Scotland have a mountain to climb if they are to beat South Africa in this afternoon's crucial Rugby World Cup Pool B contest in Newcastle after falling 17 points behind at half time.
The opening 10 minutes at St James' Park was played at an electric pace with hard hits from both sides before South Africa broke the deadlock in the 13th minute.
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Schalk Burger, playing in his fourth World Cup, was adjudged to have grounded the ball after a sustained spell of pressure and Handre Pollard made no mistake with the short-range conversion to give the Springboks a 7-0 advantage.
An irrepressible South Africa maul moments later resulted in a penalty and Pollard again split the posts to put Heyneke Meyer's side into double figures.
Scotland were barely causing their opponents any trouble in the other half of the field as Pollard continued his 100% record with the boot with another penalty to extend the lead further.
Dark Blues captain Greig Laidlaw settled a few Scottish nerves with their first points on the half-hour mark, but then missed a second penalty after Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis had been put in the sin bin for dangerous tackling.
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Despite being a man light, South Africa went over for a second time just before the break thanks to JP Pietersen - his fourth try in two matches. Pollard's kick was good to give the Springboks a 20-3 half-time lead.
Pascal Lemesre
