England v South African - Twickenham 22/11/08

  DuncanS - Post Match Thoughts

And lo, did the Southern African marauders descend upon Twickenham and hand England their arses!

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Sure, many England fans suspected another defeat was on the cards. After last week's disappointment against Australia, the realisation had dawned on us that Johnson was not a magician; that he needed time to mould the players into a team in his own image. But we had hoped the lessons from that Aussie setback had been learned, and that we could now move forward at the very least.

Alas, regression was the order of the day. When England pressed from a cheeky kick off and Cipriani landed the resultant penalty, all looked promising. But the promise was not to last. Slow ball from a ruck 3 minutes later lead to England's almost inevitable indiscipline presenting South Africa with an equalising chance which was duly taken. England managed to stay on level terms for another 10 minutes before South Africa upped the ante. A mix up on our own line gave South Africa a close range scrum from which Rossouw eventually brushed aside some weak English midfield defence and stretched across the line to open the floodgates. Pienaar's conversion left England facing a 10-3 deficit.

Ruan Pinearr - Photo by Empic

This was fixable, if only England had put into practise what they had been talking about all week, namely discipline in all facets of the game and cool heads when chances present themselves. Unfortunately, before a comeback could be launched, Cipriani dithered suicidally over a clearance kick and his opposite number, Pienaar, pounced to charge the kick down and gather the kind bounce for a run in under the posts. The sense of deflation amongst the England faithful was almost tangible, and the writing was on the wall.

Two minutes later, and a glimmer of hope. A quick tap from the effervescent Care saw the ball quickly transferred from Cipriani, to Rees, to Haskell, and on to Armitage who set off for the corner. A lovely cover tackle from Botha snuffed out the try, but the move was perhaps the best England have looked all season.

Delon Armitage - photo by empics

Over the next 10 minutes the sides exchanged penalties, but England had the encouragement of seeing Tendai ‘Beast' Mtawarira binned for going off his feet. The joy was tempered a minute later when Flutey limped off to be replaced by Flood.

Toby Flood - photo by empics

The England centres had been getting their hands on the ball much more this week, and the change was a blow to England's rhythm, such as it was. Two minutes later, and a big call from Jonno, who decided to balance his second row by removing Palmer and partnering the bulky Shaw with the lineout specialist Borthwick. All these changes made no immediate effect on the scoreboard, and South Africa headed for the changing rooms with a 6-20 lead.

And then it all turned horrible.

A period of concerted England pressure on the South African line ended with the home side losing control of the ball AGAIN, and just 4 minutes later Jacobs crashed over for a try worked from a lineout. When you are conceding tries off first phase possession at this level, surely you're defensive coach should lower his head in shame.

By this time Cipriani's game was imploding visibly. His confidence was shot to pieces, and he began simply shipping the ball on whenever he received it. When Easter went off his feet at ruck time, Pienaar took the visitors up to the 30 point mark, but the world champions weren't done yet. Despite a yellow card for Conrad Jantjes, England were totally unable to make any impression on the scoreboard, and when they yet again failed to control the ball 5 metres out, South Africa swept up field, Fourie taking advantage of Sackey's defensive hesitation to score. By now, the whole of England was begging for the mercy of the final whistle, but our guests were disinclined to oblige, and Habana completed the scoring with the last play of the game.

The final score of 6-42 was the heaviest home defeat Twickenham had ever seen, and it is clear for all to see that the scourge of the English game, slow ball, is alive and thriving, along with a complete and total lack of control when in the opposition 22. The honeymoon is over for the new regime, but at least they have the comfort of New Zealand in a non-World Cup year up next........

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. But it did, and now we find out whether Martin Johnson is a national coach or an iconic figurehead from a bygone era.

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