Ben-Jason Dixon didn't sugarcoat the Springboks' defensive lapses after a chaotic, high-scoring thriller at Loftus. 🇿🇦 Read his full post-match reflections below. Photo: Backpagepix
Ben-Jason Dixon admitted the Springboks succumbed to a degree of “slackness” in South Africa’s nail-biting victory over Scotland in their Nations Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
The Boks dominated the first 20 minutes of the encounter to lead 14-0, but a willing Scotland never submitted to the world champions, battling back to parity by the end of the first half. The Boks once again pulled away to a more convincing 35-14 lead by the 67th minute, but quickfire tries by Josh Bayliss and Ben White, both converted by Finn Russell, pulled the visitors back into the competition at 35-28 by the 71st minute.
The Boks would go on to win the encounter 42-28.
The oscillation in match momentum was by and large due to some porous defending by the Boks, who let slip tackles in the midfield. On a handful of occasions, the Scots made threatening line-breaks to storm through the centre, only for desperate scramble defense to halt their advance.
