RUGBY: Stung by its opening loss to Japan, South Africa can now finish on top of Pool B at the World Cup with a win over the USA on Thursday morning.

The Springboks were far too good for Scotland, running out 34-16 winners at St James' Park, with young fly-half Handre Pollard finishing with 19 points.

Coach Heyneke Meyer said he would love to somehow get the underdogs tag for the match against the USA, given the way his team had rebounded from the loss to Japan.

"We're at our best if we're written off so we have to keep the pressure on ourselves," Meyer said. "I don't know why, but it's part of our mentality. If the whole world writes us off, that's when we come back.

"We're going to have that ruthlessness and desperation going into the next game as well. We don't talk about favourites. We just take it game by game."

Veteran winger Bryan Habana scored one of South Africa's three tries yesterday, taking him to third on the all-time international list behind only former Japanese star Daisuke Ohata (69) and Australia's David Campese (64). It is now Scotland, having lost for the first time in the pool, who find themselves under pressure ahead of their match against Samoa at the weekend.

If the Scots were to lose that match, Japan would only need to beat USA in its final game to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time. Samoa will find that a tough challenge after being downed 26-5 by Japan.