Scots plan to end 33 years of South African dominance

The Archies were No 1 for a sixth week with "Sugar, Sugar". Rolf Harris was climbing the charts with his "Two Little Boys". Dixon of Dock Green was the pick of the evening's viewing on BBC and Bonanza on ITV. There were just the two television channels back then – on 6 December, 1969, the day Scotland last beat the Springboks.

It was a day of anti-apartheid demonstrations, with 700 officers drafted in to keep the peace at Murrayfield by the Lothian and Borders Constabulary. On the pitch, in the Edinburgh gloaming, Ian "Sid" Smith, the debutant Scotland full-back, scored the late try that clinched a 6-3 victory which has become increasingly famous with the passing of time.

The size of the task facing the Scots at Murrayfield today is not merely to shake off the shackles of a historical burden. They need to bridge the gap that has existed since South Africa's return from the international wilderness. Since then, the Springboks have won at Murrayfield 34-10 (1994), 68-10 (1997), 35-10 (1998) and 46-29 (1999). The try counts have been 5-1, 10-1, 5-1 and 6-2 and the points differentials 24, 58, 25 and 17.

In the most recent meeting, at the start of the 1999 World Cup, the Scots gave the Boks a half-decent game, leading 16-13 at the interval before collapsing by conceding five second-half tries. There is some hope that it might just be different this afternoon, not because Scotland showed any great potential southern-hemisphere-slaying form in their 37-10 win against Romania at Murrayfield last Saturday, but because South Africa are fielding three debutants (the tight-head prop Deon Carstens, the open-side flanker Pierre Uys and the left wing Friedrich Lombard) and two new starters (the loose-head prop Wessel Roux and the lock Marco Wentzel) in a team featuring 10 changes from the one beaten 30-10 by France in Marseilles last Saturday night.

Scotland's game plan, no doubt, will be to emulate the French by exerting sufficient force up front to stop the Boks playing the kind of running rugby which hallmarked their grand finale to the Tri Nations championship in the summer. Not that Ian McGeechan has been giving anything of his planning away, other than to make the observation: "We have to be very good in the game we want to play, particularly up front." Scotland's coach guided the Lions to a series victory in South Africa five years ago, though sadly on this occasion he has no Guscott or Gibbs behind the scrum. When it comes to the cutting edge stuff, the Boks have a back line with the sharpest of operators, in Robbie Fleck, Marius Joubert, Breyton Paulse and Werner Greeff.

"It would be naïve to underestimate South Africa," he cautioned. "I still think they have very good players." Scotland have very good players of their own, not least Scott Murray, the man Rudolf Straeuli – the architect of the new-look Springboks – made into a world-class line-out jumper in their time together at Bedford. Scotland also have a Hinshelwood in their camp, as they did on that historic day in 1969.

Ben Hinshelwood, the utility back on the home bench, happens to be the Melbourne-born son of Sandy Hinshelwood, who was Scotland's full-back against South Africa 33 years ago. "I've seen footage of my dad play, but not of that game," he said.

Hinshelwood Snr will be watching Hinshelwood Jnr on television in Sydney today – hoping, no doubt, to see a little bit of history repeating itself.