Is this a hollow victory or dawning of the England revival?
Att: 33,827
And so, in the city that has been blighted for months by an acute shortage of rainfall, England’s winning drought came to an end in monsoon conditions that will have been welcomed by the inhabitants of Cape Town but less so by the Springboks.
The atrocious conditions made for a strange match of errors and painfully little rugby and no doubt had an impact in denying the Springboks the chance of building the kind of momentum that had blown their opponents away in the first two Tests.
But as Eddie Jones returned to the home of Western Stormers for the first time since he was recruited by the Rugby Football Union just eight days after joining the Super Rugby side in 2015, there was some deserved salvation for the embattled England head coach and his squad.
Not all of the questions that have mounted up on this tour on the back of the fifth-place finish in the Six Nations have been answered but there was enough character in the display to suggest the players and their coach remain on the same message.
England can now at least look forward to their autumn campaign, which opens with a rematch against the Springboks at Twickenham in November, followed by the All Blacks, with some level of hope rather than despair.
The monkey of that losing streak is finally off their backs just in time for their much-needed summer break.
The winning margin of 15 points reflected England’s dominance in the second half, turning the screw on a contest if not quite in the pomp of their previous two seasons but even so in commanding fashion.
South Africa may have lacked an edge, given that the series was already won, and their changes at fly-half and centre clearly made their attacking game less effective.
But England, lacking in confidence after five successive Test defeats, stuck manfully to their task, applying pressure in the right places and critically improved their discipline and defence.
Instead it was South Africa who found themselves on the wrong side of referee Glen Jackson, conceding 14 penalties to just six by England, allowing Owen Farrell to build scoreboard pressure by landing six kicks at goal.
Yet appropriately the match-winning moment was provided by England’s best player of the series, Jonny May, whose stunning finish from a beautifully struck cross-field kick by Danny Cipriani in the second half eventually allowed the tourists to pull clear.
It had largely been a subdued performance from Cipriani on his first start for England in 10 years but there are few players in the English game capable of such innate moments of brilliance on which the fate of so many Test matches lie.
“It’s about instinct,” said Cipriani. “There was probably one winger in the world who would have scored that. Jonny May is always worked hard in training so that’s on him.
“The highs are never so high and the lows are never so low. We’ve learned a lot on this tour.”
If May was a deserved man of the match, Chris Robshaw also made the most of his swift return to the side in place of Brad Shields, who was ruled out of the game with food poisoning, with a tireless and dogged display.
There was a coming-of-age display too by 20-year-old Tom Curry on the openside flank and, along with Robshaw, he had a critical role in helping prevent South Africa building up the momentum that overwhelmed them in the first two Test matches despite establishing early leads.
Even on the occasions that England found themselves guilty of compounding one error with another, their improved defence and discipline ensured South Africa’s attacking intent quickly ran out of steam.
England completely dominated after the break, despite Rassie Erasmus’s decision to empty his bench early in the second half and restore the line-up that had outplayed Jones’s side in the first two Tests.
There was one brief moment when it looked like England might implode again, when the Springboks snatched the lead just having changed their entire front row, including the introduction of former Saracens hooker Schalk Brits and rampant prop Steven Kitshoff, and Jesse Kriel scored his side’s only try from a chip ahead by Warrick Gelant.
But instead of caving in, England were quickly able to regain the lead via Farrell and this time it was the Springboks who were crippled by their lack of discipline.
“It’s a great reward for the players,” said Jones. “We’ve lacked a bit of emotional control but we controlled the big moments well. In other games, we’ve been seduced by the scoreboard. Today, we stuck at it.
“Some players have come through, others have fallen by the wayside. There are some great lessons for us ahead of the World Cup.
“I thought Jonny May was outstanding. Young Tom Curry has probably played more Tests than he has Premiership games now.”
Both sides understandably struggled with the conditions following the heavy rainfall before kick-off while the wind swirled around the old stadium all night.
Yet it was England’s backto-basics policy that defined the outcome.
Instead of chasing the game, they pressured South Africa aerially, with Ben Youngs winning the boxkicking duel with Faf De Klerk and piling the pressure on the Springboks’ back three. For the first time in this series, England did not get off to a flying start on the scoreboard although two Farrell penalties had given them a slender lead by half-time, with Elton Jantjies only able to convert one of his two kicks at goal.
“It’s so disappointing when you don’t put your best foot forward in the first two games,” said Youngs. “It wasn’t about playing today, it was about sticking to process. Eddie told us not to get bored of doing the simple
things.”
Scoring 0-3, Farrell pen; 0-6, Farrell pen; 3-6, Jantjies pen; 3-9, Farrell pen; 8-9, Kriel try, 10-9, Jantjies con; 10-12, Farrell pen; 10-15, Farrell pen, 10-20, May try, 10-22, Farrell con; 10-25, Farrell pen.