SCOTLAND have already achieved a lot at this World Cup, taking maximum points from their opening two games. If they do the same against South Africa this afternoon they will have qualified for the quarter-finals at the first time of asking - but to do so they will have to raise their game significantly from the level of play they reached against Japan and the United States.

Do not read too much into the Springboks’ defeat by the Japanese in the opening game in Pool B two weeks ago. Having restored their self-respect by beating Samoa a week later, the two-time world champions are sure they have a good chance of becoming the first nation to win the trophy for a third time. They will go in search of a bonus point win at St James’ Park, and their hopes of doing so have been strengthened by Vern Cotter’s decision to rest key players from his Scotland team.

To some extent, the head coach’s hand was forced by his loss to injury of Finn Russell and John Hardie: without his playmaking back and most dynamic forward, Cotter surely knew that his team would face an uphill struggle. In that situation, fielding other influential players such as Mark Bennett could have been construed as an unnecessary sacrifice.

Not that Scotland will fail to be competitive. They have better strength in depth now than for some years, thanks in part to the time they have been together preparing for this competition. But if the Springboks get up a head of steam - above all up front, where their scrum and lineout are their two most potent weapons - being competitive will do no more than reduce the margin of defeat.

Needless to say, Scotland have spent a lot of time working on a way to nullify those weapons - a task made all the more vital by their own previous vulnerability in the lineout. “We’ve worked on these areas over the last two and a half months,” forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said. “Hopefully we can be pretty physical in that area and disrupt what they try and do.

“That’s all you can do, really - I don’t think there’s any magic formula for stopping a maul. It’s about being legal, trying to get in early, and trying to disrupt what they’re trying to do.

“There’s a variety of strategies that you can adopt. We take a lot of pride in being very physical in those areas, so that’s what we’re hoping to do. To stand off teams you rely on referees’ interpretation - we’d rather have our destiny in our own hands and do what we have to do right.”

The indiscipline displayed by South Africa in their first two matches will be a great help to Scotland if repeated. Even in their relatively straightforward win against Samoa they conceded 15 penalties, and a similar number this week would go a long way, provided Greig Laidlaw is as accurate as usual with his place-kicking, to keeping Scotland in the game.

Yet, although the captain could perform that vital role, Scotland will need a performance of all-round excellence if they are to win. They are equipped to compete well in the lineout through Richie and Jonny Gray, and they may come close to parity at the breakdown, where new recruit Blair Cowan has a point to prove after missing out on the original selection.

Humphreys, bridling at the suggestion that this was in any way a weakened Scotland team, insisted that those three players would be joined by many others who were capable of playing just as big a role. “I don’t understand why people are saying it’s a second string. What hasn’t been written is that international rugby is a hugely, hugely physical sport.

“I’d prefer people to write that we have three games in ten days. I’d prefer them to write about a 31 man squad playing three physical and huge games..

“Look at the two Gray brothers. We have a fantastic back row - Blair Cowan played every single game in the Six Nations and was extremely unlucky not to get in the initial 31 man squad.

“[In the front row] we have Gordon Reid, who played extremely well against France, and there is Fraser Brown who has arguably been our best forward in this tournament so far. He has been outstanding.

“We’re comfortable with what we’re putting out. We’re confident in the group we have picked. They have all worked unbelievably hard to be here. They are an extremely proud group of people.

“I haven’t seen a more together group, and they’re all buying into the same thing. So no, I can’t understand why people say it’s a second string. We’re all after the same thing: every single player has worked so hard to be here, and they are here on merit.”

The same could be said, of course, about the South African team, who look significantly stronger overall. And, as well as appearing better on paper, the Springboks could also have a psychological advantage: if they lose, they could be out of the tournament, whereas Scotland know they will have another bite of the cherry should they be beaten today.

“The important thing for us is to stay humble,” South Africa’s backs coach, Ricardo Loubscher, said. “We’ve still got our backs to the wall.”

It will be Scotland who have their backs to the wall this afternoon. A bonus point for a narrow loss is not inconceivable, and in the circumstances might even feel like a moral victory of sorts. A win of any kind would rank as one of the great days in the history of the national team.