Frank Hadden has revealed that the Scotland camp is sweating next month's World Cup draw © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Frank Hadden

Teams: Scotland

Frank Hadden has revealed everyone in the Scotland camp is acutely aware that failure to beat South Africa tomorrow risks setting up a nightmare draw for the 2011 World Cup.

Hadden's men take on the world champions in their second autumn international at Murrayfield, where defeat would see them lose their status as second seeds ahead of next month's draw.

That could make it doubly difficult for them to emulate or better last year's quarter-final berth at the next World Cup in New Zealand. "The players are aware of it, coaches are aware of it, everybody is aware of it," said head coach Hadden, whose side lost their opening November Test 32-6 to New Zealand last weekend.

"We didn't ask them to change the seeding system - whether we think it's fair or not is nothing to do with us, but we have left ourselves with the situation where we need to beat New Zealand or South Africa to get in the top eight (in the world rankings).

"It's a tough ask but that's what is in front of us and I would expect the players just get on with it and do whatever it is they need to do to get the win."

Hadden added, "If we don't front up physically this weekend it will be a tough afternoon. We've watched every game they've played over the last few years and know exactly what to expect.

"I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks that the Springboks always bring the most physical and confrontational rugby on the planet every time they play.

"This will be a very direct and confrontational game. We think we've got the players who are not only aware of that after what they faced last weekend but are able to cope with that.

"You hear ex-internationals and so on talking about it, so everybody is aware of how tough a challenge they pose every time they come to the ground. Southern hemisphere sides play very uncomplicated, straightforward rugby but do it with tremendous pace and power."

Hadden wants Scotland to match the speed of the Springboks after watching his side struggle to cope with the pace of the All Blacks. "Some of the players said it was the quickest game they had ever played in," Hadden told BBC Sport.

"And it sometimes takes a while to get up to speed with the tempo of the southern hemisphere game. But now we're going up against the world champions and we believe we have got every chance."

Despite being outscored four tries to nil by New Zealand, Hadden believes Scotland are catching up with the world's best. "The gulf is narrowing," he explained. "We've put in a lot of work over the last 10 years since the game turned professional. Although we lost the game against the number one-ranked side in the world, it was plain for all to see that there were some areas where we were very competitive.

"Obviously, we didn't match them in all areas, such as the priceless art of finishing, but now we have another opportunity to measure ourselves against the very best in the world."