The Springboks opened their Rugby World Cup title defence on Sunday night with a convincing 18-3 win over Scotland in Marseille.

Tries by Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse took the game away from the Scottish after the Boks held a slender 6-3 lead at the half time break.

The World Champions, South Africa, will be concerned about lock Eben Etzebeth who left the field injured early in the first half.

Despite the Boks brilliant defence and setpiece performance, they left 11 points on the park through missed conversions and penalties.

The swing in the game came in the 48th minute when Du Toit powered over the line following relentless pressure. This was backed up with the try by Arendse some three minutes later when he fielded a brilliantly executed cross-field kick by the flyhalf, Manie Libbok.

Following the win, the coach Jacques Nienaber said it was not the easiest of games to navigate and the hot and humid conditions in the French port city made it more challenging.

“It was a slippery one,” said Nienaber.

“Scotland are a good team, they are not number five in the world for nothing. We were only leading 6-3 at half-time after having some dominance. They are a nuggety team and hats off to them. We had to grind the win out.

“Rugby is not a complicated sport - you get a good platform from the forwards, then you can create space and create some magic.”

The captain, Kolisi, in his turn felt that in the first 40 minute period they lacked intensity and this is something they brought in the second stanza.

“We didn’t start with the intensity that we normally want to bring. The conversations were clear and anything the coaches said we already knew as we told each other the same.

“We came out for the second half with that kind of energy.”

In the other Pool B game on the weekend, the world number ones, Ireland, thumped Romania 82-8.

The Springboks now turn their attention to Sunday's game against Romania in Bordeaux. This match will kick-off at 15:00.

Scorers: 

Springboks: Tries – Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kurt-Lee Arendse Conv. – Manie Libbok, Faf de Klerk Pen. – Libbok 2

Scotland: Pen. – Russell

Springboks - 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff

Replacements - 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 RG Snyman, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Duane Vermeulen, 22 Grant Williams 23 Wille le Roux

Scotland - 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Duhan van der Merwe, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Darcy Graham, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Jamie Ritchie (captain), 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Replacements - 16 David Cherry, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 WP Nel, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Ollie Smith

Morgan Piek OFM Sport