Scotland produced a performance of ferocious commitment, magnificent precision and endless energy to record a quite sensational win over reigning world champions South Africa in Saturday’s EMC Autumn Test at Murrayfield. There were heroes everywhere among Andy Robinson’s men, who defended with brilliant intensity, attacked with purpose and saw off both the Springboks and those naysayers who dismissed them after last week’s defeat to New Zealand. Scotland produced a performance of ferocious commitment, magnificent precision and endless energy to record a quite sensational win over reigning world champions South Africa in Saturday’s EMC Autumn Test at Murrayfield. There were heroes everywhere among Andy Robinson’s men, who defended with brilliant intensity, attacked with purpose and saw off both the Springboks and those naysayers who dismissed them after last week’s defeat to New Zealand. It was Scotland’s first success over South Africa since 2002, when another similarly wet afternoon was brought to life by a victory for the ages. Following on from the win over Australia 12 months ago, the Scots now have another huge southern hemisphere scalp to show off as proof positive of progress. View the image gallery from an historic afternoon in Edinburgh It allows them to head into next Saturday’s EMC Autumn Test finale against Samoa at Pittodrie in confident mood, with head coach Robinson left to reflect on one of the most impressively controlled displays the Murrayfield crowd have witnessed in many a long year. Robinson enthused: What a difference a week makes. They’re tough conditions to play in. Some people say they are Scottish conditions but I think we handled it very well. It got tough at times but the whole side, everybody, played their part. It was tough physically for the players today. You saw Richie Gray come of age today, Richie Vernon come off the bench and perform well, Scott McaLeod was running the line well. Joe Ansbro in his first game played really well. We have to perform at that level every time we play and, if we do, we can get results like this.  Even when we went six points down I thought we were fighting and scrapping for lots of ball. I am delighted with the result but obviously we need to perform again next week (against Samoa). That’s the measure of a team: you can’t just have one-off performances. We have got to step up to the plate next week and that is our focus. It was absorbing, attritional stuff throughout in front of a vocal Murrayfield gathering. South Africa sought to penetrate with their array of powerful backline runners, but the Scottish defence stood firm to ensure there was no repeat of last week’s slow start against the All Blacks. Robinson’s troops did, however, concede a number of early penalties, four in quick succession, which presented the Springboks with a straightforward means of getting themselves on the scoreboard. Fortunately for the Scots, the visitors only took up half of these opportunities, Morne Steyn the man who established a six-point lead. This concession was frustrating, since Scotland were actually playing much of the game on the front foot. They swiftly got themselves back on level terms through a penalty and drop goal from Dan Parks, the latter arriving after a huge Sean Lamont surge off the back of good lineout ball had established fine field position. This quick-fire and emphatic response rallied the Murrayfield crowd, who were soon up on their feet to salute the Scottish scrum as Springbok tight-head Jannie Du Plessis crumbled under intolerable pressure from Allan Jacobsen, giving Parks another penalty shot from out left which he duly sent between the sticks. Scotland were gaining in confidence all the time. Another terrific lineout take and feed, this time from Scott MacLeod, allowed Parks to chip the onrushing South African defence and find Graeme Morrison battering through on a great line. There followed a period of intense Scottish pressure, with Parks and Lamont again to the fore, the latter deserving huge praise for standing firm in the face of a bone-jarring hit from Francois Steyn and refusing to surrender momentum. The Springboks, normally so precise at the breakdown, began to infringe with increasing regularity, and after Jean De Villiers was caught offside at a ruck, Parks stepped up to put the Scots six points up. The closing minutes of the first half were a tense affair from a home perspective. Morne Steyn chipped away at Scotland’s lead with another penalty, awarded for a ruck offside, while the excellent MacLeod suffered the cruel blow of being forced from the field with a rib injury – a sign of the unrelenting physicality of the game. Richie Vernon, the Glasgow Warriors back-five forward, came on in the Edinburgh man’s stead, heading to his favoured No8 position with Nathan Hines moving to the second row and Kelly Brown to blindside. Vernon made an immediate impact, spearing right from the base of a scrum to create another pressure point in the corner as Scotland ended the half still in the ascendancy, debutant Joe Ansbro also beginning to come into the game.Half time: Scotland 12-9 South AfricaThere was no visible drop in the intensity of the occasion when hostilities resumed. Morne Steyn brought South Africa level with a 47th minute penalty, but Parks nudged Scotland back in front five minutes later as the visitors strayed offside following a magnificent Vernon break from deep. The hosts continued to play with ferocious commitment and purpose. They were right on top of South Africa all across the field, never allowing the reigning World Champions a moment’s respite. Nobody epitomised Scotland’s spirit better than Richie Gray, whose lineout steal shortly before the end of the third quarter brought a rapturous response from the galleries. The feat, against what has long been regarded as one of the finest lineout operations in world rugby, underlined how well Scotland were performing, both individually and collectively. The scrum remained an area of emphatic Scottish dominance and, ultimately, points as the South African front row failed to register a square hit and Parks banged over another penalty. It gave the Scots a six point lead with 17 minutes left to play, but if it came naturally to expect a South African onslaught, the opposite was in fact initially the case. Scotland brought the same energy and control to the final quarter as the other hour of the match, and, crucially, maintained their discipline as the Springboks made desperate attempts to claw their way back into it. Twelve minutes before the end, Parks put Scotland more than a converted try beyond the visitors with a penalty awarded when Juan Smith went off his feet at a ruck. The Boks were not for going quietly, however, and sent a new wave of tension rippling round Murrayfield when replacement Willem Alberts was driven over from close range after a penalty kicked to touch. Crucially, there was no conversion, which left Scotland four points to the good going into the closing stages. They closed it out with a little to spare to complete a fantastic success. Full time: Scotland 21-17 South Africa EMC Man of the Match: John BarclayAttendance: 35,555ScotlandHugo Southwell (Stade Francais); Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Sean Lamont (Scarlets); Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Lawson (Gloucester) CAPTAIN; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh), Euan Murray (Northampton Saints), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Kelly Brown (Saracens), John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors). ReplacementsDougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors) for Ford (68 mins), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors) for Murray (68 mins), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors) for MacLeod (34 mins), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh) for Brown (76 mins), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh) unused, Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors) unused, Chris Paterson for Walker (72 mins). South AfricaZane Kirchner; Gio Aplon, Francios Steyn, Jean De Villiers, Lwazi Mvovo; Morne Steyn, Francios Hougaard; Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck Du Plessis, Janine Du Plessis, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield (captain), Deon Stegmann, Ryan Kankowski, Juan Smith. SubstitutesAdriaan Strauss, CJ Van Der Linde, Flip Van Der Merwe, Willem Alberts, Ruan Pienaar, Patrick Lambie, Adi Jacobs (unused). Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)