South Africa scored six tries and held their nerve against a Scottish onslaught to claim a 42-28 victory in their Nations Championship clash in Pretoria, with the visitors left to rue several missed opportunities.
The Springboks made 10 changes to the team that had defeated England the week before and, with a relatively inexperienced side, were there for the taking.
But a wasteful Scotland could not capitalise and remain winless in South Africa after eight attempts.
With the score level at 14-14 at halftime, South Africa lost replacement lock Ben-Jason Dixon to a yellow card for head contact at the ruck early in the second period, but Scotland did not manage a point in that period.
It took the Springboks almost 20 minutes to get into the visitors’ 22 in the second half and when they did, replacement loose forward Elrigh Louw crossed to score.
That signalled a momentum shift in the match and centre Damien Willemse and replacement prop Zac Porthen crossed for tries to open up a 21-point lead.
But the visitors gave themselves hope when Josh Bayliss ran in unopposed under the posts and scrumhalf Ben White crossed shortly afterwards.
Centre Jesse Kriel sealed Scotland’s fate when he collected flyhalf Handre Pollard’s grubber kick to score a sixth try.
In Liverpool, second-half substitute Henry Pollock scored a hat-trick as England ran in 11 tries in a 73-8 thrashing of Fiji, ending a run of five successive test defeats.
The result at the Hill Dickinson Stadium followed England’s heavy defeat by South Africa in their opening Nations Championship game and a disappointing Six Nations campaign.
England were 35-3 ahead at halftime and took advantage of Fiji being reduced to 14 men for the second half after scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli was sent off for kicking out at England prop Ellis Genge and striking him in the chest.
England’s first-half try scorers were Marcus Smith, captain Jamie George, Guy Pepper, Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Seb Atkinson.
Pollock (3), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Henry Slade and Noah Caluori added second-half tries while Fin Smith, who had a commanding game at fly-half, kicked nine conversions.
Ireland’s warmed up for next week’s test against the All Blacks at Eden Park, with a five try bonus-point 36-20 win over Japan in a scrappy match in Newcastle, Australia.
The victory secured a full haul of 10 points from their opening two games in the new global competition, and coach Andy Farrell was able to hand debuts to four players.
Japan will take plenty from the game following their victory over Italy last weekend, and only trailed by six points with 10 minutes remaining. It was another impressive performance against the side ranked third in the world, reflecting their recent progression under coach Eddie Jones.
“I would say relief more than pleased,” Farrell said. “Delighted to get the win for all sorts of reasons, the four debutants and all the changes etc and because Japan are a good side that put us under pressure.
“The scoreline flattered us but delighted for the whole group. It was far from perfect and there were a few errors out there but we stuck at it and kept squeezing them until the end,” he said.