Match action
ENGLAND’S prodigal son Danny Cipriani is back. And the pinpoint diagonal kick from the fly-half who last started for his country a decade ago proved to be the decisive moment of this third Test against South Africa, bringing an end to England’s grim six-match losing run.
Cipriani, now 30, did not have things all his own way on his return because this was much too messy an encounter for him to deliver a sparkling masterclass.
However, when a moment of match-clinching execution was required he seized the day, punching a left-footed kick into the corner of the in-goal area with a blinding moment of inspiration for Jonny May to use his blistering pace to burn off the Springbok cover and ground it.
As Owen Farrell celebrated what would be his first win as captain by converting from the touchline, England led 22-10 with eight minutes remaining.
With South Africa experiencing role reversal by leaking penalties like a sieve – conceding 14 to England’s five – Farrell was on target again five minutes from time to give England their comfortable winning margin.
Farrell was a more composed figure than in Bloemfontein a week ago, and emphasised it with a flawless kicking performance for a 20-point haul. Overall, the England forwards also seemed more effective in the slower, wet conditions at Newlands than they were on the dry, hard tracks on the high veld where the first two Tests were played.
Maro Itoje led the charge, ramming over the gain-line and hitting hard in the tackle to stop the likes of Duane Vermeulen establishing the momentum they had earlier in the series. Itoje had plenty of assistance from Joe Marler, who clattered into the Springbok big men, and Tom Curry, whose workrate was unstinting.
Honourable mentions also for Chris Robshaw, who was in his element hoovering up the frequent spillages, and Joe Launchbury for his work in stemming the Bok line-out drive.
The England scrum was more solid, with Kyle Sinckler benefitting from the stability Marler brought at loose-head by outfoxing Tendai Mtawarira to win an important scrum penalty early in the second half.
When Farrell kicked it to give England a 9-3 lead, they looked well placed despite not having really stretched South Africa – and as had happened earlier in the series when they failed to prosecute an advantage, they paid the price.
The payback began when Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus replaced his entire front row after the penalty, including bringing on the evergreen Schalk Brits, and the immediate injection of energy saw South Africa score the opening try of the game.
It started when Jesse Kriel ran through Henry Slade’s tackle, and, with Franco Mostert and Steven Kitshoff trucking it up, the young Bok full-back Warrick Gelant slid through a neat chip for Kriel to win the chase.
When Elton Jantjies converted from the touchline the Springboks had snatched the lead at 10-9 – but this time England managed to stem the South African surge. They retook the lead almost from the restart with another Farrell penalty, and although Ben Youngs’ service to Cipriani was too laboured for the fly-half to take territorial control, a Mike Brown clearance pegged the home side back in their own 22.
With Farrell reading from the same script by kicking for the corner, the Springboks coughed up a further penalty for offside, which the England skipper drilled over to make it 15-10 going into the final quarter.
The pressure told when Gelant knocked-on a Youngs kick with time on his hands, and with Mark Wilson – who made an impact off the bench – snapping up the loose ball, and passing to Curry, the flanker moved it on for Cipriani to set up the clinching England try.
The downpour before the match meant that the pitch was as slippery as an ice rink with the three assegaiwielding Zulu warriors who set down a challenge before the match all sliding over before the anthems.
They were not the last combatants to lose their footing during the match, with England players and their South African counterparts committing a catalogue of errors during a scrappy first-half in which neither side was able to establish any true superiority.
With five changes to their starting line-up from the side that clinched the series in Bloemfontein, the Springboks did not have
the urgency of the first two Tests. Nor was new fly-half Elton Jantjies as sure-fire a marksman as Handre Pollard, missing a straightforward penalty chance to put the home side ahead after five minutes.
When Farrell got the chance to reply in kind a few minutes later when Chilliboy Ralepelle infringed at a ruck, he made no mistake, and England could count their blessings because they had barely threatened, with Youngs’ box-kicking so erratic that his chasers usually had no-one within range to hunt down.
England’s failure to get a firm foothold was typified when Nathan Hughes was picked up and dumped ten metres back by the smallest bloke on the pitch, the terrier-like Faf de Klerk, when he tried to go round the side from a scrum.
Midway through the half England almost made a breakthrough when Cipriani looped round Farrell to put Elliot Daly clear, but when he linked with Brown the ball was knocked-on in the tackle.
South Africa responded in kind when Kriel and S’ubisiso Nkosi were presented with a two-on-one against Brown, but after Nkosi chipped into the ingoal May rescued brilliantly before clearing to touch. The half ended with England nursing a 6-3 lead after a penalty exchange between Farrell and Jantjies.
However, after the break England dug-in, and with the England captain’s marksmanship unerring and Cipriani providing a touch of inspiration the Red Rose’s losing run was arrested.
With it should come greater confidence and renewed hope for the Autumn, even though they were given a helping hand by Erasmus fielding a weaker Springbok side than the one that had already clinched the series.