SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND (2nd Test)
Match Review by PoyntonShark
Saturday, 2 June 2007

Another tour over, one I thought that all in the England camp would be glad to see the back of, but apparently Jonny Wilkinson thinks differently. More of that later on the message board, back to Pretoria.

   Surely now the IRB must see the folly of their ways, as yet another test match ends, showing up the IRB rules as the farce which they truly are. Who on earth came up with the notion that a Rugby Union match should last for 80 minutes?. The England 3^rd/4^th choice team had clearly demonstrated they were superior to the South Africans, and it had only taken them 40 minutes. But oh, no, the IRB demand that tired, ill players must flog themselves for another 40 minutes, proving absolutely nothing, except that Pierre Spies is a monster.

    Ultimately the result that everyone expected materialised, as South Africa were once again much too strong for England. There was a difference this time though, England showed some defiance, a willingness to defend manfully and even very, very brief hints at creativity.

   At the 40 minute mark England were worthy of their lead. The game plan, limited though it may have been, was working. The Bok back row was not pouring through onto the England backs at will, when they did get through Jonny Wilkinson was once again tackling like an openside flanker, the difference this week was that openside flanker Magnus Lund was tackling like…. well like a Jonny Wilkinson. Nick Easter and Ben Skirving also played their part in stemming the flow. The SA backs looked out of sorts, or possibly overconfident, and made too many mistakes to expect results even against such weakened opposition. Toby Flood had tightened his defence over last week showing, though this writer remains unconvinced of his credentials as a 12. The biggest complaint is that once again England very rarely looked like creating a scoring opportunity. Jonny Wilkinson was reliable as ever with the boot, but didn’t give those outside him much chance to show their talents. As hinted at above, I am sure that this was in no small part due to the game plan, but we really do need to get the ball in Tait’s (or any other 13) hands earlier than the 23^rd minute if we want to actually create scores of our own. The England forwards seemed better balanced this week, and certainly competed better in loose play, that back row trio making tackle after tackle, but they weren’t alone, Brown and Winter were getting through the graft too and Mark Regan was also to be found making midfield tackles. In the tight England once again held the Bok Scrum on all but one catastrophic occasion, but never managed to send it backwards. The line-outs were also even, but only in the respect that both sides had a 50-50 chance of reclaiming possession irrespective of whom was throwing the ball in.

   During the half time break, Jake White must have delivered one hell of a roasting to his team; they came out for the second half looking like the same 15 guys who left the pitch, but playing completely differently. The found another gear, and although England continued to defend well for the most part, they just couldn’t keep them out. As England struggle to fine one Number eight, worthy of the number on his shirt, the Boks parade their second choice, Pierre Spies, he must have been keen to make amends for gifting Dan Scarborough a try at the end of the first half, and he did so in spades how we wish for that kind of raw power and pace in England, deservedly Man of the Match for the SA broadcasters. An interesting point that may not have made UK coverage, apparently Spies was a national grade winger at U19 level. Such a shame he bulked up and lost his pace eh.

   For those interested, the details of the game:-

6 seconds on the clock, Easter makes to filed the kick off, the ball goes straight through his arms, rolls forwards and Roy Winter picks it up. Off side, Penalty South Africa. Oh Dear, this could get messy. Shock, horror Percy Mongomery doesn’t strike well and the kick falls short.

4 minutes. Stevens puts his hands in a ruck and gives Percy a chance to make amends, he needs no second bidding 3-0.

8 minutes. The first scrum of the game CL Van der Linde goes to ground penalty England. Jonny converts 3-3. Might not be as messy as first thought.

17 minutes. Boks have the ball in midfield, but the England defence is swarming all over them, Ndungane is tackled and fails to release. Penalty England. Jonny connects badly and misses. See he is human, mind you even with a poor connection it was still going straight down the middle, just never got high enough to worry the cross bar.

22 minutes. Boks put pressure on in England half, Januarie hoists a box kick behind the England defence, Noon can’t get to the ball before the bounce, which sees the ball fly over his head into the grateful arms of the kicker who crosses for the first try. Even the SA commentators note that this was against the run of play. Percy converts 10-3.

25 minutes. Pierre Spies hints at what is to come as he makes his first break of the game. Offloads to Percy Mongomery who takes a crashing hit from Dan Scarborough, looks like Scarborough has dislocated his shoulder, but is OK.

26 minutes. Bakies Botha penalised for hands in a ruck JW converts 10-6.

30 minutes. South African scrum close to England line, Van der Linde slips his binding and gets under Kevin Yates (after defending Steve Walshe last week, I can’t figure out how he failed to see Van Der Linde’s hand on the floor). For the first time in the game the Bok use their weight advantage a drive the England scrum backwards, on the second surge Burger picks up and goes in the corner for the second try. Percy converts 17-6.

33 minutes. Englands first structured attack in the backs. Scarborough gets his hands on the ball (the plan must have gone wrong somewhere) and makes a break, England recycle at the tackls and go throught the hands again. Tait and Flood involved in a pretty little passing interplay, nice to watch but actually achieved nothing. The move breaks down, but Vander Linde gets his hands in the ruck again. Jonny converts 17-9.

36 minutes. A remarkable minute for only one thing, Jamie Noon busts through a South African tackler becoming the first and last English back to achieve such a feat in two tests.

37 minutes. Olivier takes a short 22 drop out to himself and SA attempt to pass out of the 22, Juan Smith drops a pass and Alex Brown is quick to react. Englnad secure possession and move the ball wide. Winter is tackled around the 22, but manages to offload in the tackle, you read it here first folks, an English forward offloads in a tackle. Mike Brown takes the pass and with Easter and Scarborough outside him with only Habana to beat a try could be on. Habana knocks down Browns pass and is sin binned. On first viewing I though it a bit harsh, but replay shows clearly he made no attempt to catch the ball, and the yellow was justified. Jonny converts the penalty 17-12.

 But it doesn’t last long….

51 minutes. The only black mark of the game Schalk Burger hits Skirving with a late cheap shoulder charge is lucky not to get a yellow. Jonny converts England’s only score of the second half 22-22.

54 minutes. Spies breaks form the back of a ruck, after so much hard defensive work Gomersall goes and spoils it with a frankly girly (no disrespect intended to the girls) attempt at tackle, Spies brushes him aside and leaves Wilkinson, Lund and Noon in his wake as he makes amends for his first half pass. The try is converted by Percy 29-22.

57 minutes. For the second week in a row, an England back rower decides that Brian Habana deserves a gift and Skirving sets him free with a pass, Habana covers the 80 metres to the try line in around 3 seconds. Percy converts 36-22.

64 minutes. Percy Montgomery scores one the easiest tries he will ever get. South Africa pile on pressure and England defence is stretched; Percy spots Stu Turner in front of him, picks his line and takes the pass to cross untouched, and converts his own try 43-22.

77 minutes. Wilkinson caught in possession and spills the ball. Bob Skinstad collects and makes half break before feeding the man of the moment, Spies, who easily outpaces Englands defence for his second try. James converts 55-22.

Thankfully Joel Jutge ended England’s pain shortly afterwards.

  When the squad was announced I stated I would be satisfied with England being competitive, and one or two players making a real claim for a place in the RWC squad. Over the whole of two tests we were hardly competitive, but even with a team patched together at times we were competitive for reasonable portions of both games, much more so the second.

  We did see Tait look capable if we can find someone to find half a yard for him to work with. Magnus Lund showed that Rees will not have it all his own way for the 7 shirt. Flood looked cool and calm, even under pressure, but still didn’t look like a 12 to me. Scarborough made a late bid and looked sharp. Regan and Yates may just have convinced Ashton that their experience could be useful in France.

   Hardly a tour to be proud of, but managed to fall short of the unmitigated disaster that it could have been.

South Africa (17) 55
Tries: Januarie, Burger, Botha, Spies (2), Habana (2), Montgomery
Cons: Montgomery (5), James
Pens: Montgomery

England (19) 22
Tries: Scarbrough
Cons: Wilkinson
Pens: Wilkinson (5)

South Africa: Montgomery; A Ndungane, Olivier, De Villiers, Habana; James, Januarie; Steenkamp, Smit (capt), Van der Linde, Botha, Matfield, Burger, Smith, Spies.
Replacements: Carstens, Botha, Muller, Skinstad, Pienaar, Steyn, Willemse.

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