Borderer Stuart Hogg believes Scotland rugby team can pull off a shock win against South Africa today

Stuart Hogg during hiscaptain's run ahead of tomorrow's yesterday at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Scotland captain, putting in his 87th international appearance this afternoon, making him his country’s joint fourth most-capped player ever, said: "They are an unbelievable team. They have got some brilliant individual players and they are world champions for a reason, but, like everything, there are weaknesses and hopefully we can exploit that.

“We need to be patient in what we are trying to do and also stand up to their physicality. If we can stand up to that and outmuscle them, we give ourselves a good opportunity of winning.”

The 29-year-old knows how it feels to beat the Springboks after starting in the British and Irish Lions’ 22-17 victory in Cape Town in July in the first test of their summer tour, but he was also involved in the 27-9 defeat that followed at the same venue come the second test.

“It's very difficult, as we saw in the summer,” said the full-back.

“They have a game-plan that's unique to them and it’s a game-plan they have had for ever. It’s a game-plan that works incredibly well for them.

“As a back three, we are going to find ourselves under the high ball. It's something we have worked hard on all week and something I am looking forward to.

“They are very, very physical. They have jackal threats all over their team, so in terms of our attacking breakdown, we need to be squeaky clean and make sure we can blast past the contact and keep that ball safe.

“If we continue to do that for multi-phases, then that’s the times that we will most challenge South Africa. ”

Hogg was accompanied by several of his Scotland team-mates in South Africa as well as head coach Gregor Townsend and defence coach Steve Tandy, but his team have spent more time looking at South Africa's 23-18 victory in Cardiff last weekend than going back over their touring experiences in the summer, he says.

“There’s eight of us and the coaching staff that have a huge idea of what South Africa are about, but that's a fair bit of time away now,” Hogg said.

“We have looked a lot at the Welsh game last weekend. They say you are only as good as your last game and that Welsh game was a perfect opportunity for us to look at their strengths and their opportunities.”

Kick-off today is at 1pm and the match, the third in Scotland’s autumn test series, is being broadcast live on Amazon Prime.