He may have been fuming in the minutes after his team’s controversial defeat by Ireland but Pierre Berbizier, the Italy coach, is probably a happy man today. He has had time to analyse his team’s performance against Ireland and Scotland’s against South Africa and realise that while his side should have won, Scotland did little more than tread water, though admittedly against a better side.

Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach, was bullish about the performance that saw his team match the second-favourites for the World Cup for 74 minutes, but yet again concede a flurry of points in six minutes of panic.

If they do the same thing in their key clash with Italy in St Etienne on September 29, they will be on an early flight home.

It was a straightforward defensive muddle that let South Africa in for the first try at the start of the second quarter, Chris Paterson at fly half pushing the backs too wide too quickly from a scrum, the back row unable to get across to cover the gap and Bryan Habana, the wing, speeding through.

Four minutes later, Mike Blair caught a high kick, tried to link with his support, the ball went loose and Jaque Fourie, the centre, eventually finished off.

Two minutes after that, a loose kick gave South Africa an attacking chance which they finished with a delightful break from Fourie du Preez, the scrum half, supported by Percy Montgomery who fed the ball back to Du Preez for the only score that owed more to Springbok skill than Scottish inattention.

Montgomery converted all three and added two penalties, The biggest benefit, as Nathan Hines, the lock and one of the bright points in the Scotland performance in the loose, observed afterwards, is that South Africa and Italy play similar styles. They both favour the blitz defence; they both rely on big hard-hitting packs to do the bulk of their work; they both have big, abrasive back rows who specialise in slowing opposition ball; they both organise quickly and tackle brutally. Only South Africa do it better.

The big negatives for Scotland were more evidence of the recent tendency to give away points in flurries – they did it in the opening minutes of the home defeat by Italy; again a fortnight ago in the second half against Ireland; and this time at the start of the second quarter – and that, despite a healthy amount of ball, Scotland never threatened a try. The couple of times they did create overlaps, they were either ignored or botched long before the try line came in sight.

On the positive front, the scrum mostly handled South Africa despite being a couple of stone lighter – they will have weight advantage against Italy. However, the lineout was a mess in the first half, failing to threaten a single South Africa throw and having their own possession messed up more often than not. It improved markedly after the break and after the arrival of Scott Murray, but by then the damage had been done.

And there were individual performances to take note of. Rory Lamont surely played his way into the top side, always a threat whether barging and spinning his way out of tackles or catching his own kicks ahead. The one Scotland penalty, which gave them the lead after nine minutes, was entirely his work with a kick, chase and brutal tackle.

Mike Blair looked sharp at the base of the scrum, and afterwards he reckoned that the big difference between the sides was the South African ability to dominate the collisions so that they were always able to lay the ball back cleanly for their support while the Scots were always having to fight to make it available. By the time they had got it back, the South Africa defence was ready and waiting.

Again, expect more of the same from the Italians, but they are not quite as technically expert, and in the second half Scotland matched it.

Hadden reckoned that since it was his team’s second game of the season – South Africa’s season ends with the World Cup – there was a lot to feel encouraged by. He is certainly finding the physical edge but now has three World Cup games to get everything right for that make-or-break game against Italy.

Scorers:
Scotland: Penalty: Paterson (9min)
South Africa: Tries: Habana (21), Fourie (25), Du Preez (27). Conversions: Montgomery 3. Penalty goals: Montgomery 2 (13, 50).

Scoring sequence (Scotland first): 3-0, 3-3, 3-10, 3-17, 3-24 (half-time), 3-27.

Scotland: R Lamont (Sale Sharks); N Walker (Ospreys), R Dewey (Ulster), A Henderson (Glasgow, rep: H Southwell, Edinburgh, 45min), S Webster (Edinburgh); C Paterson (Gloucester, rep: D Parks, Glasgow, 55), M Blair (Edinburgh, rep: R Lawson, Gloucester, 66), G Kerr (unattached, rep: A Jacobsen, 28), R Ford (Glasgow, rep: F Thomson, Glasgow, 66), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), J Hamilton (Leicester, rep: S Murray, Montauban, 45), J White (Sale Sharks, rep: A Hogg, Edinburgh, 30-41), D Callam (Edinburgh, rep: A Hogg, Edinburgh, 63), K Brown (Glasgow).

South Africa: P Montgomery (Sharks, rep: R Pienaar, Sharks, 61); J P Pietersen (Sharks, rep: A Willemse, Lions, 72), J Fourie (Lions), F Steyn (Sharks, rep: A Pretorius, Lions, 57), B Habana (Bulls); B James (Sharks), F du Preez (Bulls); O du Randt (Cheetahs, rep: B J Botha, Sharks, 30-41, 61), G Botha (Bulls, rep: B du Plessis, Sharks, 61), C van der Linde (Sheetahs), B Botha (Bulls, rep: A van den Berg, Sharks, 61), V Matfield (Bulls), S Burger (Stormers), J Smith (Cheetahs), D Rossouw (Bulls, rep: W van Heerden, Bulls, 57).

Referee: C Berdos (France).

Attendance: 30,342