Trying times
JONES SPAT AFTER POINTS-FEST South Africa . 42 England ......... 39 by Gary Fitzgerald
EDDIE JONES was involved in an angry verbal confrontation with some South African fans after his side slumped to defeat at Ellis Park.
The Aussie reacted to being baited by the locals who were celebrating their side’s stunning comeback victory in the first of a three-Test series.
Jones exchanged words with the supporters having watched England let slip an early 21-point lead.
The head coach is feeling the heat after witnessing another despairing and embarrassing setback, which is a fourth successive Test defeat.
Jones said: “The fans here always have something to say when they win.
Asked if he gave some back, he replied: “Of course I did. But that’s not for me to share. I’m sure it will be on some mobile phone somewhere in the world.
“It’s a game we could have won. I have never seen a better 20 minutes at Ellis Park by a visiting side. But then a lack of discipline and inconsistency were the problems. The penalty count was poor and we must fix our discipline.”
Captain Owen Farrell said: “We got off to a good start and a few errors crept in.
“Discipline let us down again. We have to stick together and make sure this defeat makes us tighter.”
England had enjoyed a stunning opening 20 minutes which saw three fine tries from Mike Brown, Elliot Daly and Farrell, while all the Springboks managed was a Handre Pollard penalty.
Full-back Daly fired over a long-range penalty from deep inside his own half. Brown used his strength to reach out and grab the opening try before Daly raced over after Pollard’s penalty. And that was followed by a Farrell breakaway try.
It all looked too good – and it was. The dream start turned into a nightmare before half-time as South Africa came right back into the contest.
Sale No.9 Faf de Klerk darted over from and Daly failed to ground the ball down behind his own line and wing S’busiso Nkosi pounced.
Nkosi burst over for his second moments later followed by Willie Le Roux who finished another fine South Africa move down the right.
Farrell kicked a penalty but the visitors were stunned to be 29-27 behind come the half-time whistle.
Jones reacted by throwing on New Zealand-born flanker Brad Shields for his debut but it was the same story.
Pollard increased the lead with a EARLY STARTER: Mike Brown dots down the first try penalty and things went from bad to worse as England’s discipline crumbled.
Mako Vunipola was sent to the sin-bin for a late challenge on De Klerk, while wing Aphiwe Dyantyi dived over for his side’s fifth try.
Itoje reached out his long arms to ground the ball for a much-needed England try but Pollard nailed two penalties to put the Springboks in control again. May grabbed a consolation try but England ran out of time.
Billy Vunipola said: “We probably gave them too much front-foot ball.
“We were too tight around the ruck and they have good players like Willie Le Roux but we could still have won that at the end.
“I thought we played really well apart from that period in the middle and we have to stay true to ourselves.
“We don’t like losing but it’s nice to have a strong South Africa team. We will work on our discipline. We will be fine.”