Johnson: No need to fear the Springboks

Scott Johnson has told his Scotland side they should not fear South Africa when the world’s No 2 ranked side march out at Murrayfield.

The Dark Blues’ interim head coach is still trying to develop a squad capable of competing consistently on the international stage.

There were encouraging signs during the RBS 6 Nations where his group finished third, but their weakness were still evident during the summer when they suffered a pride-damaging defeat to Samoa during the tour of South Africa before handing back an 11-point lead to their Springbok hosts in a 30-17 loss.

But even with that result still fresh in the memory, Johnson doesn’t believe his men should be worried about facing Heyneke Meyer’s two-time world champions today.

“We should be respectful of South Africa but fearing them is different,” Johnson said.

“Rugby is a combative sport and we want people to be on edge. They are a pretty good side and we respect that. But fear is the wrong word. On edge is better.”

Johnson has made six changes to the team that beat Japan 42-17 in last weekend’s opening Autumn international.

The Australian has included four players with only 15 caps or less in his starting XV full-back Sean Maitland, wing Tommy Seymour, centre Duncan Taylor and No 8 David Denton.

While the Scots can pull together 467 appearances at international level, they face a vastly-experienced side boasting 200 more caps.

But Johnson insists it is only by blooding fresh faces in these type of matches that Scotland will eventually be able to take on the Southern Hemisphere giants.

He said: “This is a good chance to see guys. We have still got a lot of players sitting on the bench injured, so it gives others an opportunity.

“There’s no doubt that in certain positions we’re a lot deeper than we were when I took over. We are still not where we need to be though. The summer tour helped us with 10 new caps and there was another five or six in the Six Nations before that.

“That is what this country needs a greater pool to pick from so that’s why we’re doing what we are doing. As for Sunday, it is all about the performance.

“To get to where we want to go, you have to be clear on what you want to achieve and that is why the result is less of a concern for me at this stage.”

Sunday’s opponents have recalled lock Bakkies Botha to their side and Johnson has stressed to his men that South Africa’s ball carriers must be felled at the earliest opportunity.

He said: “Putting big men to the ground early is the area we really need to be sharp at. From our point of view, we certainly have the will to do better at the breakdown than we have.

“Some technical stuff still has to be improved but we are moving in the right direction.”