Fourteen-man South Africa put in a commanding performance at Twickenham to end the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour on a high note with a 27-13 (14-3 at half-time) win over an outclassed England on Saturday.
Replacement prop Thomas du Toit was sent off for a high tackle with 20 minutes to go, suggesting the game could return to the crucible. Although the Boks were leading 27-6 at the time, England had come back from a 19-point deficit to draw with the All Blacks seven days earlier.
But there was to be no ‘miracle’ for the home team this time; no last-minute disappointments like the one suffered here a year ago or a 14-man Boks in Marseille three weeks ago. It was a massive statement of depth and intent as a mix and match combination showed determination and great composure to close out the game against an ultimately confused home team.
A Springbok team devoid of backline regulars Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Cheslin Kolbe, as well as pack stalwarts Lood de Jager and Pieter-Steph du Toit, and with their third-choice kicker in Faf de Klerk , he eventually commanded Twickenham after starting cautiously but growing through the game with increasing confidence.
They netted two tries through standout forward Kurt-Lee Arendse, scoring in a fifth straight Test, and tied Eben Etzebeth to one from Henry Slade, while fly half Damian Willemse scored twice with Faf de Klerk kicking a conversion and three penalties. .
South Africa’s Rugby World Cup dominance over the English group resurfaced as the scrum and maul dominated with free kicks and penalties coming as early as the first two scrums. De Klerk went wide with his first penalty kick and England took the lead on 11 minutes when center Owen Farrell hit his second shot on target. Unbelievably, his first attempt had gone wide from the front.
A neck tackle from number 8 Evan Roos gave de Klerk an easier chance to level the scores midway through the half before Farrell, to general amazement, missed another direct chance a couple of minutes later.
But that was to be England’s last sniff of points in the first half, as the Springboks dominated the second quarter.
A succession of lines at the lineout put the England pack on a warning and one of those lines, Siya Kolisi, stopped over the line (Roos managed to touch down half a second after the whistle).
However, England’s defense was resolute and he pulled in a brilliant 30-metre drop from Willemse, a first for the Springboks, to put his team into the lead for the first time in half an hour.
Three minutes later, the game came to life.
England had kicked often and from one such bomb to Willemse just inside their own 22, Bok’s backs cut England to pieces. Bok’s tall midfielder evaded the chasing Freddie Steward, feeding the ever alert Willie le Roux into his interior, who in turn passed Arendse on the right touchline 40 meters away. The flying wing had Marcus Smith in front of him, but an inside-out turn saw him zip past the flat-footed defender without being touched.
Straight from the restart, South Africa broke again from deep, playing with the shot into the box and breaking through Willemse and Arendse, and although it didn’t lead to any points, the half ended on top with De Klerk kicking his second penalty to give him his team an 11. -point advantage (14-3).
Willemse’s comfort in the number 10 shirt was on full display when he hit a second knockdown two minutes into the new half with cool assurance.
Farrell canceled it out with his second successful penalty from the edge after De Klerk deflected offside, but it was a rare moment of success for England as they began to clear their bench early to try to nullify the firepower of the Boks in the lead.
It didn’t work out initially as mounting pressure from a succession of lines in the lineout led to a yellow card for failing to roll out in a ruck by the careless Tom Curry. Two minutes later the numerical advantage was rewarded by the Boks. England were forced to get on the goal line and standout Eben Etzebeth scored under the crossbar from one meter out.
De Klerk converted and then added a terrific penalty from 50 meters to give the Springboks a three-run lead at 27-6. But the fortunes of the Springboks were about to change.
The impact of the Bomb Squad had been evident with the new front row of Malcom Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Thomas du Toit extracting more scrum penalties from the English front row.
But Du Toit’s stay was short-lived as he was sent off with 20 minutes remaining for going into an upright tackle and head-and-shouldering England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie.
That set up a tense last 20 minutes, but Bok’s resolute and fluttering defense would not suffer the same fate as the All Blacks a week earlier at Twickenham.
Center Henry Slade managed to get across in the period, but it was the only sighting the England Test line could fabricate as they walked off the pitch, bewildered and defeated.
Goalscorers:
England 13 (3) – Try: Hery Slade. Conversion: Owen Farrell. Penalty goals: Farrell (2).
Springboks 27 (14) – Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Eben Etzebeth. Conversion: Faf De Klerk. Penalty goals: De Klerk (3). Drop Goals: Damian Willemse (2).
Source: S.A.Rugby
