Springboks will provide rising Scots with true yardstick

Springboks will provide rising Scots with true yardstickImage source, SNSImage caption, South Africa beat Scotland 32-15 when they last met in Edinburgh two years agoByAndy BurkeBBC Sport Scotland Senior ReporterPublished1 hour agoRiding high at fifth in the world rankings after a stunning opening Nations Championship win in Argentina, Scotland are feeling pretty good about themselves, but what comes next will provide a true reflection of where they stand in the global game.A showdown with back-to-back world champions South Africa in Pretoria is the next assignment and the type of challenge that Scotland were all too rarely afforded before World Rugby’s shake-up of the summer schedule.While England, Ireland and Wales regularly slugged it out with the southern hemisphere heavyweights over two and three-match Test series, the Scots were left to find whatever dance partners they could and more often than not ended up embarking on “development tours” to lower-end Tier One or Tier Two nations.Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend pointed out: “From our perspective, no-one in our group has played South Africa for Scotland away from home.”Jonny Gray, the veteran lock who started against the Pumas last weekend, did in fact make a late cameo off the bench on Scotland’s last match away to South Africa, a 55-6 drubbing in Port Elizabeth back in 2014. The match was also notable for the debut of Handre Pollard, the two-times World Cup winner who will earn his 86th South Africa cap at fly-half on Saturday.”It’s a unique opportunity for us, obviously the biggest challenge in world rugby,” Townsend reported.Vakatawa close to making Test comeback with Fiji