Rugby World Cup: Scotland know South Africa. But do they know how to beat them?

Pool B: South Africa v Scotland, OL Stadium, Marseilles, Sunday, 4.45 Irish time – Live Virgin Media One

Scottish supporters were audible before visible until turning the corner in the old port district of Marseilles to reveal a cohort in full kilted regalia treating bystanders to a lusty and prolonged rendition of Flower of Scotland.

Included among the onlookers were a handful of South Africans keen to appraise the opposition’s social skills, the impromptu concert played out in front of O’Malley’s Irish bar, which was rather appropriate given that the three nations will contest two playoff places in Pool B of the Rugby World Cup.

The Scots must translate the ebullience displayed in warm-up matches with a couple of excellent performances against France, one in victory and another in a narrow defeat, into a match-winning core that can emerge from the furnace of tournament rugby.

Glasgow Warriors have previously thrown shapes in the form of bold pronouncements about how they were set to take the Champions Cup by storm, but they were unable to substantiate those claims.

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Scotland, who lean heavily on that club in personnel terms, need to be more resilient. They play great rugby at times that exemplifies the skills and attitude that their head coach, Gregor Townsend, showed as a player, while boasting outstanding individuals such as Duhan van der Merwe, the inspirational troubadour Finn Russell and flankers James Ritchie and Rory Darge.

But it won’t be about the few because that won’t suffice against the world champions in the Velodrome. Scotland will need a full complement contributing to upset the odds. South Africa’s record thrashing of New Zealand in the final pre-tournament aperitif at Twickenham offered a reminder that they possess all the tools to defend the title they won in Japan four years ago.

The latest incarnation of the Springboks to the triumphant 2019 version, but with some key differences, which Townsend referenced in his prematch observations. “It will be a game of mix, with power and pace. Maybe two years ago you would say South Africa was all power, but they have added different parts to their game. They are moving the game more now and are not kicking as much as they used to.

“That brings challenges to our defence and opportunities for us to get the ball back. If we can play our game, a game we believe can threaten them in defence, but we must make sure that we bring our own power to the various contacts we get in the game, scrum, lineout maul, tackle and ruck clearance.

“I believe it will be a brilliant game with two teams that are in form and desperate to get out of this pool.” All very reasoned and reasonable. Blair Kinghorn is named at fullback, Darcy Graham has recovered from injury and is named on the right wing with the in-form Kyle Steyn unlucky to lose out, while Ben White has won his battle with Ali Price for the nine jersey.

Tight head prop Zander Fagerson has served his two-match ban and returns to the front row in one of four changes to the pack from the Georgian game; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner and Richie Gray are the others.

South Africa, with the exceptions of niggling injuries sustained by Canan Moodie and Munster’s Jean Kleyn, have enjoyed a stress-free week, starting with their decision to name the team on Wednesday rather than wait for Friday.

The Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber explained, since the players are told the line-up on a Monday, he doesn’t believethere’s any material benefit in keeping it under wraps. He said: “We get it out as quickly as possible. We don’t believe it has any bearing [on the result], people knowing or not knowing the team.

“Even further than that, if you look at Chasing the Sun (a 2020 Super Sport documentary on life inside the Springboks camp) after the last World Cup, we put it out there. I don’t think there’s people who don’t know how we operate inside the Springbok environment. Even locally we had the Inside the Boks series where we will go into depth as to how we manage our players, so we are as transparent as we can be.

“I will use Scotland as an example because we are playing against Scotland,” continued Nienaber. “Rassie and I have been coaching against Gregor since 2016. He was coaching Glasgow back then. We [Munster] drew them in Europe, and we played them in the Pro12 back then. So, we played Glasgow four times in one year.” The point was that he’s very familiar with the stylistics of Townsend teams.

Nienaber added: “There might be a 5-10% change of something new that you bring in.” Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende return to the backline while Jasper Wiese is preferred to Ulster old boy Duane Vermeulen at number eight. The bench contains six forwards and not the seven from the last day that invoked some old-school spluttering.

Knowing the team for a few more days is one thing.,Stopping the Springboks, well, that’s a different matter. South Africa have arrived in France in fine fettle on and off the pitch, with a game plan that is a little more nuanced in an attacking sense than the one that won the tournament four years ago, while they retain the capacity to be physically brutal if so desired.

It’s 13 years since Scotland beat the Springboks, a run of seven defeats that is odds on – South Africa are 11-point favourites on the handicap – to become eight in the south of France on Sunday evening.

South Africa: D Willemse; K-L Arendse, J Kriel, D de Allende, C Kolbe; M Libbok, F de Klerk; S Kitshoff, M Marx, F Malherbe; E Etzebeth, F Mostert; S Kolisi (capt), P S Du Toit, J Wiese. Replacements: B Mbonambi, Ó Nche, T Nyakane, RG Snyman, M van Staden, D Vermeulen, W le Roux.

Scotland: B Kinghorn; D Graham, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, D Van der Merwe; F Russell, B White; P Schoeman, G Turner, Z Fagerson; R Gray, G Gilchrist; J Ritchie (capt), R Darge, J Dempsey. Replacements: D Cherry, J Bhatti, WP Nel, S Cummings, M Fagerson, A Price, C Redpath, Ó Smith.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia).