Remember, for a moment, that Scotland beat France at Lasswade barely four months ago, and finished fourth in the Six Nations. Also bear in mind that their opponents, South Africa, had only played six internationals since the last World Cup, where they finished last. They take a look at the final score today:
Scotland 8, South Africa 27
In fact, a small South African win would have been a total shock, though Scotland would have started favourites, but a win for the visitors by four tries to one is amazing.
South Africa were ranked 12th when the World Cup draw was made - as a result they find themselves in New Zealand's group, and what is more open the tournament against the World Champions. However their other two opponents, Wales and Australia, will be needing to do some pretty rapid reassessments of the "weakest" team in Group A. With Australia not playing any warm-up internationals, and Wales trying to recover from a disastrous Six Nations, there could well be a surprise team finishing second - and maybe making the semi-finals?
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