Springboks fight back for win

Nathan Hines scored his country's first try at home for 14 months, and Phil Godman kicked five points before the break but the Springboks replied with 14 unanswered points after half-time through a Jaque Fourie try and the boot of Ruan Pienaar.

The defeat also all but guaranteed Scotland will face a nightmare draw for the 2011 World Cup, after they lost their second-seed status.

Dan Parks promptly missed two relatively easy penalty opportunities after coming off the bench as first Schalk Burger was penalised for not using his arms in a tackle on Ross Ford and then Brian Mujati was adjudged to have dived over the top of a ruck.

To the audible relief of the Murrayfield crowd, a patched-up Phil Godman returned in place of Parks - who had endured a miserable seven minutes on the pitch - and the Edinburgh number 10 kicked his side ahead in the 28th minute from directly in front of the posts.

Mike Blair made a scything break round the fringe of a ruck and Scotland's forwards recycled the ball several times before lock Hines crashed over to break his country try drought at Murrayfield a minute before the break, Godman adding the extras to make it 10-0 at half-time.

South Africa were enjoying their best period of the match early in the second period and although Scotland's defence held firm, Pienaar did reduce their advantage with a penalty after John Barclay was caught offside.

The visiting number 10 brought his team to within four points with another penalty on 55 after Allan Jacobsen was penalised for not rolling away.

That superiority was turned into points when Fourie finished superbly in the corner despite another terrific tackle from Hugo Southwell.

After Godman missed a difficult penalty kick to regain the lead for his side, Pienaar stretched South Africa's lead to 14-10 with three more points following a Scotland infringement at a ruck.