At Twickenham in London
For the first time since 2014, the 14-man Springboks became Lords of London and, through their deserved 27-13 victory against England on a cold but moving autumnal Saturday night, finished their tour on the highest notes. .
HOW IT HAPPENED | England v South Africa
England manager Eddie Jones had clearly hinted that they knew the Springboks would be coming through the front door.
That’s exactly what they did when a passionate, proud and precise performance from Bok’s forwards ensured that their Twickenham bogey was truly smashed.
There was also Damian Willemse’s measured display in the opening which produced two drop goals to help topple the hosts.
The Boks survived defeat to replacement prop Thomas du Toit by an unnecessary red card in the 60th minute and five points missed off the tee by Faf de Klerk on a night that may have been a bit scrappy, but they were the best team.
England’s second home defeat of the Autumn Nations series was met with loud boos from the 81,000 crowd who simply couldn’t cross the line as they did against New Zealand last week.
South Africa’s forwards, and their team in general, have resistance in spades. They might have lost their minds in the last 20 minutes, but they displayed a calm defensive composure that, in the end, proved too much for the hosts.
The result meant that the Boks ended their tour with two wins from four games, which is a fair reflection of their development steps, but also of the latent inconsistency they need to shake off.
The Boks didn’t start the Test very well, but once they found their stride they were hard to stop.
It wasn’t the best of omens when De Klerk missed six practice attempts during the warm-up, so it came as no surprise when he missed the first penalty in the fifth minute after a hard-earned scrum.
Owen Farrell then missed an easier try up front two minutes after England had been awarded an offside penalty on a lineout.
Six minutes later, Farrell was oriented correctly kicking as he scored a penalty which England won from a scrum in which Frans Malherbe was nailed for overextending.
The Boks then found their scoring voice through De Klerk in the 19th minute when England flanker Alex Coles was penalized for a twist in the neck.
If De Klerk was having a strange night with the boot, it had nothing to do with Farrell, who, when he missed his second penalty in the 21st minute, sweared loudly through the shocked-quiet stadium.
It was a release of pressure that allowed the Boks, through two successive rolling mauls, to march into the England 22.
In what has been a theme of their season, they were unable to turn that pressure into points as Siya Kolisi stopped over the line after a clever lineout move on 25 minutes.
However, England were warned by referee Angus Gardner for their illegal maul dispute. The Australian referee was successful in several calls, but had a bit of a lottery in the scrums.
What wasn’t a lottery was the kicking game and it was England who blinked first on 33 minutes when Damian Willemse, who had deflected a goal on 31 minutes, caught a shot with hooker Jamie George in front of him.
He beat and locked up Jonny Hill and from there, the hosts got into trouble.
Willemse had Willie le Roux and Kurt-Lee Arendse as support running backs and when they all combined, Arendse stuck with Marcus Smith to win, something she did with a good sidestep to score in the corner.
The Boks, who were not productive at England’s 22, had taken the ball from their 22 to pierce the England defence.
They almost did it again two minutes later when Willemse and Arendse got the ball out again from the 22nd, but the English defense was desperate.
The Boks, who until that point wanted nothing to do with rugby on their ground, picked and chose their moments to run.
They kept England pinned in their half and, on the stroke of half-time, De Klerk scored his second penalty to give the Boks an 11-point half-time lead.
England then launched a new front-row straight line and Jack Nowell in place of starter Tommy Freeman, but that made no immediate impact as Willemse smashed another drop goal in the 42nd minute.
It gave SA a 17-3 lead, but Farrell again cut it to 11 points when he hit a simple penalty, but SA again took over.
They ventured into the England 22 and through a series of attacking mauls and rucks, were booked by England flank Tom Curry in the 48th minute.
They made it worth their while two minutes later when Eben Etzebeth crashed under the posts, allowing De Klerk the simplest conversion.
After England recovered from 25-6 last week against the All Blacks, 24-6 seemed well within their range, but they needed to play rugby in the SA half.
De Klerk hit a 50-meter penalty in the 57th minute to give South Africa a 27-6 lead, but the visitors weren’t entirely clean in their operations.
England were given some advantages by the unusually poor handling of Franco Mostert and Willemse, but were offered no reprieve by the SA replacement front row of Du Toit, Steven Kitshoff and Malcolm Marx at scrum time.
Du Toit didn’t last long though, as he was sent off for a shoulder to the head from English hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and was rightly sent off.
He gave England a much-needed boost, and they pinned the Boks deep at their own 22, a dangerous place to be when you’re a man down.
Their defense was heroic, but the dam wall, like New Zealand’s last week, burst on 71 minutes when Henry Slade crashed to cut the deficit to 14 points.
SA’s conceding of that try was poor, with missed tackles on Nowell allowing England unnecessary metres.
The Boks then also lost De Klerk to injury, while Siya Kolisi also had to go out for head injury assessment.
They overcame him with tactical excellence that forced England to play deep from their own half.
The hosts changed their lines, as did Manie Libbok when he overcooked a touch seeker after the siren.
However, Libbok’s mistake did not influence play as the Boks received the adulation of a much-needed success in London.
Goalscorers:
England: 13 (3)
Proof: Henry Slade
Conversion: Owen Farrell
Penalties: Farrell (2)
South Africa: 27 (14)
Attempts: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Eben Etzebeth
Conversion: Faf de Klerk
Penalties: De Klerk (3)
Drop Goal: Damian Willemse (2)
