Johnny Sexton kicked a late penalty to make sure Ireland once again got the better of Scotland in the Six Nations, the visitors running out 27-24 winners at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Scotland went into the fixture still in with a shot of claiming the title but a 17th loss in the last 20 meetings between the two nations in the competition means Wales and France will fight it out to be crowned champions in 2021.
Hamish Watson's converted try in the 74th minute completed an impressive comeback from Scotland, who had trailed 24-10 at one stage in the second half.
However, having worked so hard to get back level in the contest, Scotland conceded a penalty from the kick-off, allowing Sexton to settle a see-saw contest in favour of Ireland.
The hosts had not played for a month – their round three fixture against France was called off due to a coronavirus outbreak within Les Bleus' squad – and were caught cold in the opening minutes of both halves.
Sexton slotted over an early penalty to start the scoring before putting his right boot to good use in open play, a cross-field kick meant for Keith Earls ending up breaking kindly for the late-arriving Robbie Henshaw to ground.
Finn Russell replied with a penalty and then cashed in on a fortunate break to get Scotland's first try.
Stuart Hogg charged down a clearing kick and twice hacked on before Russell did the same, James Lowe’s attempt to deal with the situation only knocking the ball up in the air to set up an easy finish for the fly-half.
The conversion made it 10-8 to Scotland, but a pair of Sexton penalties before the break was followed up by Tadhg Beirne plunging over in the 49th minute, his try by the posts leaving an easy kick to make it 21-10.
A further Sexton penalty built the lead out to 14, yet substitute Huw Jones gave Scotland hope, bursting through some weak tackling to make an instant impact following his introduction.
Hogg landed the extras having taken over kicking duties, the full-back also on target to bring his team level after Watson's strength close to the line allowed the flanker to force the ball down.
Yet Sexton scuppered Scotland's hopes as he had the last word, drilling over the match-winning kick from close to the touchline.
Springboks aiming to have 'two best teams in the world', says Esterhuizen
South Africa centre Andre Esterhuizen said that the Springboks are aiming to have "the two best teams in the world" ahead of their Autumn Nations Series clash against England.
The world champions were pushed all the way by Scotland in their narrow victory at Murrayfield on Sunday, though head coach Rassie Erasmus opted to rotate some key starting positions.
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit started on the bench, with the changes a common theme during Erasmus' seven-year tenure.
Their opening Autumn Nations Series victory also put them back on top of the world rankings after Ireland's first defeat in 19 home games by New Zealand on Friday.
"One of the good things is that everyone is getting game time now," Esterhuizen told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
"It is also about looking forward, you've got to be able to spare all the guys for the next World Cup and build experience into it.
"The aim is to have the two best teams in the world, all in one squad.
"We want to make it second nature for people slotting in, so if someone steps in, they can just slot in and play the same if not better than the other player."
South Africa next face England, who are yet to pick up a win this autumn, at Twickenham on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick's side suffered a narrow two-point defeat by New Zealand, before conceding an injury-time winning try to Australia on Saturday.
England have now lost each of their last four Test matches, their longest such run since losing five straight games in 2018, but Esterhuizen's former Harlequins team-mate Marcus Smith has been impressive for the Red Roses.
"It's a great space, I obviously love to play there," Esterhuizen added. "It will be great to be running at Marcus, not run off him.
"It's going to be a great match, England have played well in the last few games, it's unfortunate that it hasn't been the results that they want. I think it's going to be a big one."
The Springboks have won three of their last four matches against England (L1), including each of their last two. Three of the last five games between England and South Africa have been decided by single-point margins.
Armstrong returns to Scotland squad, Morgan and Adams withdraw
Scotland have confirmed that Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Stuart Armstrong has been recalled to Steve Clarke's ranks ahead of their upcoming Nations League fixtures.
The Scots face Croatia at Hampden Park on Friday before taking on Poland in Warsaw three days later in the hope of picking up points in their bid for League A survival.
This will be Armstrong's first appearance for his country since Euro 2024. He played for just 14 minutes in Scotland's loss to Hungary in their final group game of the tournament.
The 32-year-old's inclusion comes after the New York Red Bulls' Lewis Morgan and Torino's Che Adams pulled out, though Clarke confirmed he was happy with his forward options.
Morgan has impressed in the MLS this season, registering 20 goal involvements (13 goals, seven assists) in the regular season for Sandro Schwarz's side.
His 49 chances created is a total only bettered by John Tolkin (59) for the Red Bulls, while he also helped his side in their recent playoff series win over the Columbus Crew.
Adams missed Torino's 2-0 defeat to Juventus last Saturday with a thigh injury, but upon further assessment from the Serie A side, has been ruled out of international duty.
Scotland sit bottom of Group A1 after picking up one point from their first four games, which came in their last Nations League encounter with Portugal.
Clarke's side, however, are both on their longest ever winless run at home (six games – D3 L3) and longest run without a victory in competitive fixtures (10 games - D4 L6).
They could also level their longest overall streak without a win, set in 1998 (nine games – D3 L5 currently), if they fall to defeat on Friday.
Croatia, however, have never won away in Scotland (D2 L1), with this their first trip to Hampden Park since October 2013, losing 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
Ireland ready to respond after 'honest' New Zealand chat, says Hansen
Mack Hansen has backed Ireland to bounce back from their 23-13 defeat to New Zealand that saw their 19-game home winning streak come to an end.
The loss also saw Ireland tumble from atop the world rankings to third as the All Blacks repeated their World Cup quarter-final success from last year, and also marked New Zealand's first win on Irish soil since 2016.
Ireland had previously won 25 of their 26 home games under Andy Farrell, which was their longest run on home soil, with their latest defeat before last Friday coming against France in 2021 (13-15).
While questions have been asked of a team that have been beaten in three of their past five matches, Hansen was adamant that the mood is not dampened ahead of Friday’s visit of Argentina.
"People are always very eager to jump on you when you’re down. It’s like in South Africa, nobody gave them a hope after the first Test," said Hansen.
“And what happens? They come back and win it. That’s the best thing about this group. The outside noise is outside noise and nobody knows what goes on in here, how hard we work and how resilient we are.
"People can chat away. The people who know us know, unfortunately, it was one of those weeks [against New Zealand], but we’re ready to bounce back.”
Ireland's display was littered with errors against the All Blacks, which included 21 handling mistakes, 30 missed tackles and 13 penalties conceded at the Aviva Stadium.
But eradicating those mistakes could prove difficult when they face Argentina on Friday, who come into the encounter on the back of a 50-18 thrashing of Italy.
Ireland, however, have not lost to the Pumas since the 2015 World Cup quarter-final and have beaten them on the three subsequent occasions they have played in Dublin.
And Hansen is confident his team-mates can respond against Felipe Contepomi's side and continue their impressive run against Argentina.
“There weren’t really hard chats, just honest chats,” added Hansen on Monday's debrief.
"We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t good enough and also that it just wasn’t us.
"So this week we’re looking to right a lot of wrongs and no better place to do it then back in the Aviva in front of a home crowd."
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