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EDINBURGH.. — South Africa rugby coach Rassie Erasmus was full of praise for 21-year-old scrumhalf, Embrose Papier in the Springboks’ 26-20 win over Scotland on Saturday night.

After limited time off the bench during the course of the international season, Papier was handed his first start at Murrayfield.

Despite calls earlier in the season from many pundits for the Bulls scrumhalf to get a start, Erasmus believes the South African brainstrust got their timing just right with Papier’s first run-on game.

“I really think that in the case of Embrose, we got it right,” said Erasmus.

“We thought this was the right game for him, on this pitch and the way Scotland play suits him well, and he also handled it very well. Credit must also go to (Springbok assistant coaches) Mzwandile Stick and Swys de Bruin for the way they’ve blooded him into Test match rugby.”

Erasmus also praised the Springboks’ growing maturity following their hard-fought victory over a good very Scotland team in front of a capacity crowd at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

The South Africans held a slender half-time lead (20-17) over the enterprising Scots after a thrilling opening half, which saw both sides displaying some good attacking rugby.

Two well-taken penalty goals in the second half, one each by Handré Pollard and Elton Jantjies, eventually clinched the match for the Springboks. Pollard scored 18 points from a try, two conversions and three penalty goals, to help steer the result in the South Africans’ favour.

Pollard was named Man of the Match and in the process moved into third position on the all-time Springbok points’ scoring list with 336 Test points, surpassing top try scorer Bryan Habana’s 335. Jesse Kriel scored the first try of the match while Scotland also scored twice in the first half, through Peter Horne and Hamish Watson. Greig Laidlaw succeeded with two conversions and two penalty goals. Erasmus, SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, praised the Springboks’ opponents after the match: “To beat a team that has become a real force in world rugby, a team that is on up, in the middle of a good home run, is satisfying. — AFP