After a tense and combative first half in which Scotland’s forward pack was abrasive, two early Springbok tries put the game out of reach for Gregor Townsend’s side.

Pieter Steph Du Toit scored the first goal, and Manie Libbok’s no-look cross-field kick set up Kurt-Lee Arendse for the second four minutes later.

The world champions then turned the screw at the set-piece, wearing down an increasingly ragged Scotland.

Clinical Reaction to South Africa’s victory over Scotland
The Scots will point to Jesse Kriel’s potential red card for a reckless tackle in the first three minutes that was missed by officials, but they were also undone by errors at vital periods, particularly at the lineout.

Townsend’s team now faces an uphill battle to advance from Pool B, which also features the world’s top-ranked team, Ireland, while South Africa began their championship defense with a bang and will face Romania next Sunday.

Scotland will have to wait two weeks before facing Tonga in Nice to make amends.

More to come.

South African starting lineups: Willemse, Arense, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe, Libbok, De Klerk; Kitshoff, Marx, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi, Du Toit, Wiese.

Mbonambi, Nche, Nyakane, Snyman, Van Staden, Vermeulen, Williams, and Le Roux are the replacements.

Scotland: Kinghorn, Graham, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Russell, White; Schoeman, Turner, R Gray, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Darge, Dempsey.

Cherry, Bhatti, Nel, Cummings, M Fagerson, Price, Redpath, Smith are the replacements.

Angus Gardner (Australia) is the official referee.