Boks beat England in Durban but only just
The Springboks maintained their Test record over England with a 22-17 victory at Kings Park on Saturday, the eighth win in a row since 2006 for the Bokke over the Three Lions.
It wasn’t a spectacular performance by the Boks, but rather a physical clash, dominated at times by the Brits who failed to make those final moves.
A late try by skipper Jean de Villiers gave the Boks the edge in the second half after a Morné Steyn try had give them a 10-point advantage. but a try at the death by Ben Foden, which needed a couple of looks by the TMO, cut the lead to five with the conversion to come.
England lost their SA-born inside centre Brad Barritt early in the second half with a badly swollen eye – he was one of a number of visitors to the blood bin in a match where no quarter was given and none was asked.
As England piled on the pressure at the breakdown one wondered what Heinrich Brussow thought if he was watching – but they did earn a couple of penalties in the process which Steyn converted as did his opposite number Owen Farrell.
England took the lead after 27 minutes when Farrell slotted a penalty after a break from No 8 Ben Morgan resulted in a penalty for the Brits. Three minutes later the English were trapped offside and Steyn slotted number two to level the scores 6-6 at the break.
Whatever Heyneke Meyer and his staff said at halftime must have worked as the Boks were a different team from the start of the second half, they were getting to the breakdown much quicker and actually winning some ball.
Morne Steyn was on the receiving end of a good move by Bryan Habana, De Villiers and Bismarck du Plessis which sent the flyhalf over in the corner for an unconverted try.
England could not get out of their half and had a let-off when South Africa decided to run a very kickable penalty that failed to yield any reward, much to the dismay of a visibly angry Meyer.
Another break by Habana break led to the De Villiers try, as Habana fed JP Pietersen who sent the pass to his skipper who swerved in and dotted down. Steyn missed the conversion and SA were 16-6 up.
Farrell kicked two penalties within three minutes to cut the South African lead to 16-12 before Morne Steyn eventually found his radar and slotted a penalty, and then another Steyn penalty gave the Boks a safe cushion at 22-12.
With time up on the clock Foden eluded the shoulder charge of Francois Steyn to dive over in the corner for a consolation try which Farrell failed to convert.
As an afterthought, the most incredible thing was driving home with about 20 minutes left in the match: I could not find a single major radio station that was broadcasting the game. I found a score on a station called “Bosveld Stereo” just as De Villiers scored his try, then as I painstakingly clicked through the FM grid, I found an Afrikaans commentary, which sounded like Heinrich Marnitz which turned out to be “Radio Pretoria”.
We must be the only country in the world that participates in all the major international sporting codes that doesn’t have a dedicated sports radio service: shame on you, ICASA. – David Blood, SportsCentral
Scorers:
South Africa:
Tries: Morné Steyn, Jean de Villiers. Penalties: Steyn (4)
England:
Try: Ben Foden, Penalties: Owen Farell (4)
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Pat Lambie, 22 Wynand Olivier
England:
15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler
Substitutes: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Paul Doran Jones, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Jonathan Joseph. — David Blood, SportsCentral
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