How Scotland plan to avoid South Africa intimidation factor amid competition for starting 10 jersey

Saturday’s opponents, ranked number one in the world and back-to-back World Cup winners, may have named a much changed side for the second round of the Nations Championship but are still going to pose a formidable test to try and conquer. They also go into the match at Loftus Versfeld having never lost to Scotland on their home soil and with only the All Blacks having beaten them in Pretoria for over two decades.

However, confidence is high in the Scotland camp following their opening round win over Argentina - a 47-38 victory that saw them score seven tries in Cordoba. The questions is, how do you prevent the aura of playing the best team in the world away from home from intimidating your players?

South Africa trips are the types of matches Scotland and Gregor Townsend want to be involved in

“It's pretty straightforward that this is the toughest opposition and you're playing them away from home,” explained Townsend. “It's a great one to be involved in, I feel really privileged to be with the team this week, taking on the Springboks away from home and to do it in a sort of iconic stadium at Loftus. It will be a great occasion.

“We want the players to drive that side as much as possible. During the week we talk a lot about how we prepare mentally as well as how we prepare physically. Discussions are ongoing. What type of reaction we want to see from our players when things don't go well, because that's bound to happen at the weekend.

“There's going to be moments, or more than just moments, with the Springboks at the upper hand. We've learned from previous experiences, but this is a new one. I can't wait to see how our players react and how they come together.

“We're growing our identity of how we play as a team, but also how we react to incidents in the game, errors, even if things are going our way, so they get another opportunity to do this on Saturday.”

Finn Russell in line for Scotland return against Springboks but Tom Jordan and Fergus Burke continue to impress

Townsend also confirmed that Finn Russell is expected to be fit for this Saturday’s match after missing round one of the competition through injury. However, with both Tom Jordan and Fergus Burke putting in good performances against Los Pumas there is now more competition than ever for the Bath fly-half’s 10 jersey.

“The depth at 10 is very, very good,” the Scotland boss added. “We've got players who have played for us on a number of occasions. I think of Adam Hastings, who's not on this tour, and Dan Lancaster, who started for Glasgow the last few weeks.

“Then you've got Fergus, who showed his class again. I think he's been in great form for Saracens. He came on twice in the game, really added to our attack. Tom showed what a competitive test player he is. That competition is important. If Finn had been available for the game, I'm not sure whether we would have started him.

“I think this tour is one that we would have wanted to give opportunities to the other 10s. We'll definitely be doing that in other positions. We're really encouraged that both played at the weekend and played well. Now it makes it interesting for the next two games what we're going to do in that position.”

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