More misery heaped upon Boks
at Twickenham ENGLAND ended a 10-year wait to beat the Springboks with a dominant display that could usher in a decade of supremacy of their own.
In cold and damp conditions, the Springboks’ season that was already in free fall after last month’s 57-15 thrashing by the All Blacks, splattered horribly on the Twickenham turf as they conceded another four tries. The Boks have leaked 31 tries in 10 test matches this year.
A record loss to the All Blacks, a first home defeat to Ireland and a first loss in Argentina have already been racked up this year alone. Now, a heavy loss against England can be added to the worsening roll-call of lows after winning 11 and drawing one of the previous 12 matches since England’s last victory in 2006.
England were smarter, more skilled, technically better equipped, and, most worryingly, appeared to have more passion and urgency than the Boks. This Bok team had little to offer over the course of 80 minutes.
Once again, the Boks’ line-speed on defence was poor and England comfortably manipulated space out wide, shifting the ball from contact points to keep the visitors stretched.
The hosts also dominated the kicking game, with the Springboks conceding several turnovers due to their inability to deal with the aerial assault.
The Boks’ set-piece was decent and that was about it. There was one sweeping move that led to a try for replacement flyhalf Johan Goosen midway through the second half.
Otherwise, it was a team going through the motions against an opponent desperate to stretch their winning run to 11 matches.
It was the Boks’ sixth defeat in 10 tests this season and yet another chastening lesson.
Coach Allister Coetzee and his staff must be in the dock. There are many problems in SA Rugby but the coaching staff has to ensure that players are at least competent enough to be competitive.
“These are tough times but the team didn’t give up and they kept fighting to the end. I draw comfort from that,” Coetzee said.
“We are our own worst enemies because we didn’t handle the contestable kicks well and that led to points against us at crucial times.
“Defensively, we made two blunders and it cost us two tries, but they are things we can fix.
“It is frustrating and as a collective we’re not happy, but we just have to keep working on it.”
Watching the Boks shift the ball wide and run into touch with little clue how to break the line is as much about coaching and preparation as it is about individual skills.
After a promising opening quarter, in which the Boks enjoyed most of the possession and territory, England slowly worked their way into the match and by half-time were totally dominant.
An early Pat Lambie penalty followed by a drop-goal gave the Boks a good start, but when England wing Johnny May scored following some clever, but hardly revolutionary backline dummy runs, the tide inexorably turned to the home team.
The Boks had little to offer on attack and although the big pack, with flank Willem Alberts leading the charge, made predictable hits, England absorbed the onslaught before returning the compliment with interest.
England’s second try, scored by lock Courtney Lawes on the occasion of his 50th test match, started when veteran wing JP Pietersen failed to hold on to a contestable kick by scrumhalf Ben Youngs.
From the turnover, England centre Elliot Daly put in another kick and Ruan Combrinck made a pig’s ear of controlling it. In the ensuing panic, the ball spat out from under fullback Mike Brown’s body for Lawes to score. There might have been a knock-on in the build up, but, when things are going against you, those decisions seem to happen.
England added two more secondhalf tries through No 10 George Ford and centre Owen Farrell. Both were the result of Youngs making breaks after throwing dummies. Both times flank Pieter-Steph du Toit was the man who bought them.
It was that kind of afternoon.