Provincial side too strong

Scotland were shown the true strength of South African provincial rugby by an Mpumalanga side that had power, pace and impressive handling skills.

The Scots, lacking the sharpness that brought them success in the Five Nations, were put under pressure from the first whistle and never really got on terms.

The try tally of 3-2 in favour of Mpumalanga told the story.

Scotland were heavily outgunned behind the scrum where the tourists' midfield - until the introduction of replacement Cammie Murray - looked pedestrian.

Worse still for the tourists, Doddie Weir suffered a knee injury on the same ground where he was brutally fouled two years ago on the Lions tour.

The Scots were quickly given an idea of the strength of their opponents when, with just two minutes of play gone, Mpumalanga turned line-out possession into points with a drop goal by stand-off Jacques Benadie.

The tourists had barely recovered from the initial score when Benadie struck again with a penalty goal from in front of the posts.

With little going right for Scotland, Mpumalanga delivered another punishing blow, the South African province moving the ball from a set scrum to put powerful wing JP van der Mescht on a course down the touch-line and through the attempted tackle of Craig Joiner.

Scrum-half Grant Bartle provided the support to put full-back Kaillie Bebadie in for a try converted by Benadie for a 13-point lead.

More was to follow when Mpumalanga secured possession at a Scotland 22 metre drop-out. With backs and forwards handling delightfully, the Scotland defence was prised open for hooker Marnus Uijs to run in his side's second try.

Scotland finally got into the game when debutant Chris Paterson made a good run to force a scrum close to the Mpumalanga line, allowing number eight Stuart Reid to score on the pick-up.

Hodge converted, but the Scots had to wait a further 10 minutes before again threatening with a counter-attack by Budge Pountey taken on by Rowen Shepherd, James McLaren and Martin Leslie.

But the move was checked, and it was with a 11-point deficit that the Scots returned to the dressing room for the half-time break.

Scotland's brisk start to the second half produced little in the way of scoring opportunities, and instead it was Mpumalanga who made the first strike of the second period with a try by centre Conrad Stolz from a clever switch of direction and a neat inside pass from Benadie, who added the conversion.

The Scots finally got some reward for improved efforts with a penalty goal by Hodge, and then replacement Murray made a 60 metre run only to be tackled in the corner.

But from the ensuing line-out Stuart Grimes won possession, and the slip pass to Leslie allowed the flanker to race over for a try.

Mpumalanga hit back again, though, when stand-off Benadie kicked a long-range penalty goal.