South Africa v Scotland: Tale of the tape

STATISTICAL INSIGHT: South Africa opens their World Cup title defence with a tricky encounter against Scotland at Stade de Marseille on Sunday.

While the bookmakers have installed the Springboks as firm favourites, it is not a game where a win will come easy.

We take a look at the history between the two countries to get a better understanding of what's to come in Marseille.

South Africa versus Scotland head-to-head

Played 28

SA won 23

Scotland won five

Points for SA: 742

Points for Scot: 321

Tries for SA: 90

Tries for Scot: 32.

Highest score 68

Biggest win 58 points

Average score: 26-11

Win percentage for SA: 82.1

Milestones:

* South Africa and Scotland have faced each other twice before at the World Cup – in 1999, the Boks won by 46-29 in Edinburgh, and in 2015 the Boks won by 34-16 in Newcastle.

* Faf de Klerk will run out for his 50th Test for the Boks.

* Malcolm Marx's try against New Zealand at Twickenham on 25 August moved him to the top of the list for tries scored by Springbok forwards in Tests on 17, one more than Schalk Burger's 16.

* Every player in the starting team has scored a Test try for the Springboks.

* Sunday's Test will be the Springboks' fourth in Marseille – they have won one and lost two at the venue.

Miscellaneous:

* The total number of Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 815.

* There are 262 caps in the backline, with 553 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 349 caps.

* The average caps per player in the backline is 37, the forwards 69, while the players on the bench average 44.

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