Testing times
VISITORS LET LEAD SLIP AGAIN
EDDIE JONES was left fuming at his indisciplined stars as they crashed to a fifth successive Test defeat – and with it, blew the series against South Africa.
The head coach is a worried man having witnessed another dismal performance, with his warning to Owen Farrell and Co to clean up their acts falling on deaf ears.
Jones admitted he was feeling the pain of defeat. “This is a tough time for the team. We’re all hurting, the players, coaches and me. We have to find a solution,” he said.
“We just didn’t handle the key moments of the game. There were a lot of set-pieces. A bit like a broken car, when you fix something another thing breaks. We are playing against a reinvigorated South Africa side and we are not good enough to change it at the moment.”
Almost repeating the First Test where they surged into an early lead, the men in white were out-muscled, out-battled and out-thought by their Springbok rivals.
A 12-0 advantage from 10 dominant opening minutes turned into a 13-12 half-time deficit and England failed to add another single point in the rest of an ill-tempered contest. Now they must try and regain some pride in the final Test in Cape Town next weekend and avoid a 3-0 whitewash.
They had set out to try and avenge last weekend’s miserable 42-39 defeat at Eden Park where they held a 24-3 lead. This time they did not capitulate so easily once the South Africans gained control, but they still melted when the heat was cranked up in Bloemfontein, sending out more worrying messages for a team which has turned a winning habit into a losing one.
It had all started so well once more. England struck the opening blow with clinical effect as Ben Youngs, George Ford and Farrell moved the ball swiftly along the line. Jonny May fed Brown who strolled over to repeat last week’s early try.
Farrell converted and a few minutes later he was lining up another kick when the ball was clasped by May on the right wing and the Leicester man shrugged off two attempted tacklers to touch the ball down.
Tempers blew when South Africa were awarded a penalty and players on both sides grabbed and pushed each other before order was restored. England’s defence cracked under pressure and could not stop Duane Vermeulen from using his brawn to bulldoze over their line.
Handre Pollard converted and closed the gap further with a penalty as England’s indiscipline threatened to ruin another fine start. Mako Vunipola gave away a penalty and was warned about his behaviour after slapping Pieter-Steph du Toit while his rival was lying at the bottom of a ruck.
Tom Curry needed treatment after clashing heads with Faf de Klerk and the hosts took the lead on the stroke of half time with a long-range Pollard penalty. England began to run out of steam with the Springboks pumping up the volume.
The home forwards applied the set-piece pressure and forced England’s pack into collapsing and coughing up a penalty try, easily converted by Pollard.
Brad Shields was denied a score when a South African hand knocked the ball from his grasp as he tried to touch the ball down.
It was England’s last real hope with Pollard kicking a penalty after Hughes was sent to the sin bin and the men in white struggled in the final 15 minutes.