Boks down England despite seeing red At a glance
At Twickenham, London:
England suffered a humiliating defeat by South Africa at Twickenham as they lost a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final 27-13.
Eddie Jones’ men delivered the worst performance of an autumn campaign consisting of a solitary victory over Japan as the 14-man Springboks, inspired by halfbacks Faf de Klerk and Damian Willemse, dominated.
By the end of yesterday’s first half, England had spent only six seconds in the opposition 22 and their backline had been reduced to virtual bystanders by a vast error count and the familiar disciplinary issues.
The most brainless moment arrived shortly after the break when Jonny Hill flung De Klerk out of a ruck, prompting referee Angus Gardner to reverse a penalty. Seconds later, Eben Etzebeth was over to extend the lead to 24-6.
Unlike their mesmerising comeback to force a draw against New Zealand a week earlier, there were no late heroics this time, even after replacement prop Thomas du Toit had been sent off in the 60th minute for a dangerous challenge on Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Henry Slade dashed over in the 72nd minute but pedestrian England had rarely threatened amid a lack of ideas or tempo in attack.
In contrast, the Springboks lit up Twickenham on an otherwise drab evening by running in a sensational try through Kurt-Lee Arendse, prompted by Willemse’s brilliance.
Home fans booed when the final whistle sounded.
Meanwhile, Dave Rennie has hailed the Wallabies’ rollercoaster spring tour a success after watching his brave, makeshift outfit complete an epic 39-34 comeback win over Wales.
The Wallabies rallied from 21 points down with 23 minutes remaining to finish the five-game tour on an incredible high in Cardiff.
Wing Mark Nawaqanitawase and replacement hooker Lachlan Lonergan were the heroes as Australia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at the Principality Stadium.
Nawaqanitawase bagged a second-half double and also played a key role in the lead-up to Lonergan’s match-winning try, two minutes from fulltime, as the Wallabies recovered from 34-13 down.
Adding to the drama, the Wallabies lost skipper James Slipper to a first-half head knock and were reduced to 13 men early in the second half following yellow cards for halfback Jake Gordon and hooker Folau Fainga’a.
But their never-say-die approach yielded a win for the ages.
The Houdini act also relieved some pressure on coach Rennie, who had been staring down the barrel of presiding over Australia’s worst win-loss record in a calendar year since 1958 following consecutive narrow tour defeats to France, Italy and Ireland.
‘‘It’s good for our group. We lost three on the bounce by close scores and all games we could have won,’’ Rennie said.
‘‘We could have been going home with five victories or no victories. Our supporters have been put through the ringer with us, so it’s nice to get a result.’’
Rennie’s constant chopping and changing, be it because of injuries or ongoing uncertainty around what is Australia’s best team, led to the coach using 51 players in 2022.
Replacement prop Sam Talakai was the latest debutant after winning his first cap in Cardiff.
Rennie, though, believes the European tour served as priceless experience for the Wallabies a year out from the World Cup in France.