Scotland v South Africa: Boks' star identifies key battle that could be crucial in Murrayfield rugby test

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Gregor Townsend’s side take on the world champions in Edinburgh in their second test match of the Autumn Nations Series.

South Africa centre Andre Esterhuizen is expecting a ‘big’ midfield battle at Murrayfield on Sunday as the world champions travel to Edinburgh for the first time since 2021.

The Boks’ will come up against a familiar face Huw Jones, who is expected to be named at outside centre when the starting XV is confirmed, with the Glasgow Warriors star having spent the early stages of his professional career in South Africa with the likes of Western Province and the Stormers. However, it was actually later on while both were playing at Harlequins in England’s Gallagher Premiership that Esterhuizen and Jones teamed up.

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Speaking ahead of Sunday’s match, the 30-year old said: “It’s certainly going to be a tough game. The match against them in the World Cup last year was not a walk in the park, as we saw at halftime, so it will be an intense battle. They’ll also make the breakdowns messy, but we are looking forward to facing them.

“They are strong centres and great individual players – I’ve watched many games where they tore up defences. I obviously played with Huw when I was at Harlequins, and Tuipulotu is a hard runner and good ball carrier, so the midfield battle will be big.”

Another Scotland player the Boks’ know all about is Duhan van der Merwe who will once again come up against the country of his birth playing in the dark blue this weekend. His opposite winger, Makazole Mapimpi, says the Edinburgh star is a ‘great’ player and also stressed that they expect a totally different contest from their last trip to the Scottish capital in 2021 which South Africa won 30-15.

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He said: “Duhan has been playing good rugby. I’ve been watching him play for Edinburgh in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, and we’ve faced one another a few times. He’s definitely a great player.

“We had a good training week in Jersey, and it’s also been going well so far in Edinburgh this week, so we are really looking forward to the weekend. That (30-15 win in 2021) was three years ago, so it doesn’t have much significance for me going into this match. Playing here is always tough, and it’s a little cooler here than in South Africa, which adds to the challenge, but we are excited about the match.”

Scotland v South Africa kicks off at 4:10pm this Sunday, November 10, with tickets sold out for the blockbuster clash. The match will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports for anyone who can’t make it to Murrayfield on the day.

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