Scotland 21 South Africa 6

By Fiona C
November 20 2002

Well if you'd have asked for a prediction on Saturday morning, it would have something along the lines of "tight game, South Africa to come from behind to win by only a few points", which is exactly what I told some Springboks on the train on the way up to Murrayfield...

It turned out to be a very different story when I sat opposite the same two blokes on the way home!

The drama started right from the word go, with Laney putting Scotland ahead after 3 minutes. Surely this wouldn't last. But it did, and a few minutes later Scotland were 6-0 ahead. But true to my earlier prediction, the Boks out two penalties over and the teams went in level at half time 6-6.

The second half was fantastic with Laney getting the first points after the break to take it to 9-6. It was the start of a heroic and historic 40mins for the brave Scots, not to mention controversial.

The try awarded to Budge Poutney was fine as far as I could see, but I was at the opposite end of the pitch! When the referee called for the video ref, Murrayfield held it's breath..... REFEREE'S CALL! And there it was, Scotland had scored a try against the mighty Springboks. Laney kicked the points and we were 16-6 up.

Scotland kept on the offensive and Nikki Walker touched down a loose ball after some very scrappy play from the Boks. 21-6 and nearly full time. Laney didn't convert but it was all over soon enough.

It took 33 years to defeat the Springboks at Murrayfield and it was certainly a match to remember. All the lads really excelled themselves, and I really can't see why McGeechan took Grimes off in the second half. At least he'll have fresh legs for Fiji on Sunday though. The scrummaging was great, the line-outs superb, the team really outplayed any of my expectations. The only disappointment for me was the amount of empty seats, over 10,000 under capacity.