Despite Dixon’s early second half yellow card, the Springboks saw out the period that he was off the field unscathed.

Springbok utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon was unhappy to receive a yellow card during the Springboks’ 42-28 Nations Championship win over Scotland at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but was pleased that the team emerged from the contest victorious.

Dixon was a first half replacement for lock Cobus Wiese after he picked up a niggle, and was yellow carded right at the start of the second half after his back made contact with a Scottish player’s head during a cleanout at a ruck, which saw him sent to the sin bin.

But the Boks superbly dealt with being a man down as they weathered some strong Scottish pressure and emerged from the 10-minute spell unscathed, which allowed them to pull away with three quick tries after Dixon’s return.

“It was a really interesting game. It was tough. I got on for eight minutes in the first half and it was like I was blowing (at halftime). We conceded twice (during that time), so that wasn’t the greatest and I hoped to make a bigger impact,” said Dixon with a chuckle about his early arrival.

Changed momentum

“But I feel they did really well to get back into the game at the end of the first half. And then in the second we came out and I got a yellow early, and I thought with 14 players the guys did really well to turn the momentum of the game and get ascendancy again.

“So when I got back on we had a bit of momentum, managed to convert it and we got ahead on the scoreboard which was great.

“I felt like we could really close it down then but we let them back in. Credit to Scotland, they were really exceptional with their ball carries and really made us pay for our slackness on defence.”

Speaking about the yellow card decision Dixon said: “I was very frustrated. I was sad about the call. I could have been better, but I also felt like maybe on another day it might have been a penalty only.”

“So I was really excited to come back and make amends, because some of the guys are playing 80 minutes, and others (like me) are coming on, having a rest (at halftime), coming on, getting a yellow and resting again, so I was excited to get back on and do my best.”

Dixon has now had two cameos off the bench for the Boks this season, against England and Scotland, and admitted that he was getting fitter and feeling better the more he plays: “Last week I was blowing properly, this week I felt slightly better.”