Why did Scotland loss to Springboks feel inevitable?

Scotland battled back to 15-19 down but could not score another point in the final quarter

Even the great South African second row Eben Etzebeth said the 17-point gap between his side and Scotland on Sunday was flattering.

Gregor Townsend labelled his side's performance at Murrayfield "one of our best games of the last few years".

After about 60 minutes, when Finn Russell's penalty reduced the gap to four points, the former Scotland captain Rory Lawson said South Africa had been "rattled".

Why, then, did it feel inevitable that Scotland would end up losing to the Springboks with 20 minutes to play?

Boks ultimate closers again

The obvious answer is history. The Springboks have proved themselves as the ultimate closers in rugby union.

When they won their second consecutive World Cup last year, they did it by clinching three knockout games by a point.

They had also beaten Scotland in their past eight meetings.

Scotland actually handled the infamous 'Bomb Squad' well, as the seven forwards on the South African bench came on earlier than expected, almost testament to the hosts' work up front.

But former Scotland and Lions prop Peter Wright knew the script when Russell nailed the fifth of his penalties at Murrayfield.

"South Africa are going to close up shop now," he said on Sportsound. "They will try to be really physical, force penalties and get territory that way."

From the restart, centre Lukhanyo Am extracted a penalty at the breakdown and Handre Pollard smashed a penalty 40 metres down the pitch into Scotland territory.

A stray Matt Fagerson arm at the resulting line-out then led to another penalty, and Pollard made sure it was a seven-point game again.

The Boks went on to add another 10 points in the final 15 minutes without conceding.

As they say, it is one thing knowing what is coming but it is quite another knowing how to stop it.

Scotland 'leave opportunities out there'

There are two sides to every story, though.

And Scotland's part is for all of their good work, particularly at the ruck where they disrupted ball time and again, they left points out on the Murrayfield pitch.

Composure at the crucial moment let them down, which also feels like a familiar story when up against the very top nations.

After Pollard had made it a seven-point game, Scotland had a spell in South Africa's 22.

The world champions were rocking, but a decision to go for the short side gave life to their defence and the Scots were shunted back and eventually turned over.

At that point South Africa were down to 14 men, Makazole Mapimpi was in the sin-bin. It was the last chance they got to sniff a try and it passed them by.

It was far from the only one, however.

"The opportunities Scotland created in the second half, they had five or six chances in the 22 which they probably should have scored from," Wright said.

"But a combination of a lack of accuracy and good scramble defence kept them out."

Townsend himself acknowledged that his side's wastefulness - coupled with good defence from South Africa - cost them a marquee win.

"South Africa then showed their power in the last 10 minutes," the Scotland head coach told BBC Sport Scotland.

"That effort in the second half was outstanding. To open up their defence at times and match their physicality.

"We will be frustrated because there were a couple of opportunities out there."

Positives but Scotland live with regret

On the positive side, Scotland lost to the Boks at the World Cup 13 months ago without even looking like scoring a try.

Oddly, they lost by more points in Edinburgh but this time they were at least creating chances, and their belligerent display up front gives encouragement for the rest of the autumn and the Six Nations.

Townsend pointed to Scott Cummings' controversial red card after 10 minutes, which meant Scotland played half of the opening period a man down.

There was a touch of fortune about the way a stray line-out lead to Thomas du Toit's try for the Boks as well.

Scotland can, and will take heart from aspects of this display.

But with the Springboks unusually error-strewn and playing their first game since the end of the Rugby Championship more than a month ago, it feels like an opportunity missed to take a big scalp.

Scotland have been here before. Seventeen points may have been an unjust gap on the scoreboard, but the Boks delivered another clinic in closing a game.