We knew that England would struggle with the altitude, says De Klerk
England targeted over failure to acclimatise Jones refuses to change team’s training plans
South Africa specifically targeted England after the tourists decided not to acclimatise to the highaltitude conditions ahead of Saturday’s first Test in Johannesburg. Despite racing into an early 24-3 lead, England crashed to a 42-39 defeat after conceding four tries in 20 minutes, with Saracens hooker Jamie George admitting the lack of oxygen in the thin air “hit hard” after their impressive start had yielded tries by Mike Brown, Elliot Daly and Owen Farrell.
England’s fourth Test loss in succession is their worst run since 2014, and Jones’s side yesterday dropped to fifth place in the World Rugby rankings, behind New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Wales.
Ellis Park is the highest stadium in world rugby at more than a mile above sea level, yet England chose to base themselves at the sea-level resort of Umhlanga near Durban last week following a two-week camp in England for those not involved in the Premiership final.
There are differing opinions on how to best prepare for playing at high altitude, which can lead to a variety of conditions, including acute shortness of breath, a burning sensation in the throat, dizziness and even nausea. The two most widely promulgated schools of thought for a match at high altitude are either to travel up around 10 days before the match or to arrive within 24 hours of the kick-off.
England could have done either, but decided to travel to Johannesburg on Thursday.
George said England would have to revise their conditioning preparations for the second Test at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, also almost a mile above sea level, even though the squad flew back to Umhlanga yesterday for a five-day training camp.
“It was tough after 20 [minutes], said George. “It really did kick in. There’s no excuse for that, [it was the same for] both teams. At the same time, we’d had good plans in place from a strength-and-conditioning point of view.
“We probably need to get better at that. We are still slightly at altitude in Bloemfontein, not quite as high. We’ll look to learn our lessons. We are going to be brutally honest and hopefully that will lead to the coaches not needing to say very much. We are very aware of where we went wrong, so hopefully we can fix those things.”
Faf de Klerk, the Sale scrum-half who was one of England’s most influential tormentors as the Springboks turned the game on its head, said they had planned to exploit the tourists’ preparations.
“We knew they were based in Durban and, coming from the UK, the altitude was going to be a factor,” he said. “That was our plan from the start but we didn’t have the ball in the first 20. I was surprised by the way we came back but I never doubted because I’ve played here a lot and we’ve been down by a lot of points before and, for some reason, we always come back.
“I think the altitude plays a part, as do the fans and the fact it is Ellis Park. England made a few errors they don’t usually make and that played into our hands.”
Jones insisted there would be no change to his squad’s travel schedule ahead of the second Test that England must win if they are to keep the three-test series alive.
“All the science shows you have to be here for at least 10 days to get acclimatisation value,” said Jones. “The South African teams who play on the coast don’t stay at altitude. We don’t think the benefits of staying at altitude are massive enough.
“And we didn’t lose the game because of altitude. We lost the game because of our individual errors and discipline. We’ve got players coming off the back of the club season so, to some degree, we’ve been restricted in training. The way we started and thereafter, you wouldn’t have thought altitude was the problem. It was a momentum game based on possession.”