Jones insists England are building despite big loss
ENGLAND SOUTH AFRICA 13 27
EDDIE Jones defended his credentials after he watched England produce a rudderless display to end a difficult 2022 with defeat to South Africa.
Tries from Kurt-Lee Arendse and Eben Etzebeth either side of halftime helped the Springboks ease to a comfortable victory in west London with Faf de Klerk adding an 11-point haul while Damian Willemse kicked two drop goals.
World champions South Africa finished with 14 men after Thomas du Toit’s 61st-minute red card for a no arms tackle on Luke CowanDickie, but Henry Slade’s late score was all England could muster during a drab finale to the Autumn series.
It meant Jones’ side suffered another defeat, their sixth from 12 Tests in the calendar year, which is their worst run since 2008.
The Springboks’ dominance across the pitch was reminiscent of their 2019 World Cup final triumph and, despite England going backwards since their runners-up showing in Japan, their Australian head coach insisted they could have a “really good go” at next year’s tournament in France.
“We want to win. We don’t want to get beat by a big score to South Africa and don’t want to have the worst record since 2008, so it is a problem, but I accept full responsibility for that,” Jones said.
“Obviously on results we are not happy, but I feel like we are building a really good base to have a really good go at the World Cup, a really good go.
“A number of young players got great experience today and they’ll come back better players for that. We’ve got other players coming back to form, some of our more senior players and we’re not far away. We need to develop consistently. Test match rugby is all about consistency.”
It was an error-strewn display by England, with captain Owen Farrell missing two simple penalties in the opening exchanges and the usually reliable Freddie Steward shaky under the high ball.
With South Africa typically strong in the forward areas, it was a case of deja vu for the World Cup runnersup who will turn their attention next to February’s Six Nations.
Captain Farrell added:
“We couldn’t get a foothold in the game and we’re unbelievably disappointed about that.
“We felt good going into the game, felt sharp, felt together and felt like we knew what the plan was but we weren’t able to execute.
“We weren’t accurate enough in some bits and that was across the board. Obviously I played a role in that with the two missed easy kicks early on, so, yeah, we’re hurting.”
England saw Will Stuart (elbow), Marcus Smith (ankle) and Kyle Sinckler (hip) forced off with injuries. England: Steward; Freeman, Tuilagi, Farrell, May; Smith, van Poortvliet; M Vunipola, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Coles, Curry, B Vunipola. Replacements: Nowell for Freeman (41), Slade for Smith (60), Youngs for van Poortvliet (66), Genge for M Vunipola (41), Cowan-Dickie for George (41), Stuart for Sinckler (41), Ribbans for Coles (45). Not Used: Simmonds.
Scorers – Tries: Slade. Cons:
Sin Bin: Curry (47).
South Africa: Le Roux; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Mapimpi; Willemse, De Klerk; Nche, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Orie, Kolisi, Mostert, Roos. Replacements: Libbok for Le Roux (60), Moodie for Arendse (77), Hendrikse for De Klerk (72), Kitshoff for Nche (45), Marx for Mbonambi (45), Du Toit for Malherbe (57), Smith for Orie (45), Van Staden for Roos (52).
Scorers – Tries: Arendse, Etzebeth. Cons:
Pens: De Klerk 3, Willemse 2.
Sent Off: Du Toit (60).
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia).
Farrell. Pens:
Farrell 2.
De Klerk.