By Kath
November 27 2010

England's final autumn international of 2010 against the Springbok, predicted to be a fairly easy win for England but all week I had an uneasy feeling.  The defeat the South Africa took against Scotland last week would have hurt and hurt badly.  What better way then to put it right, than to do a number on England at Twickenham .........and did they do a number.

Investec Internationals 2010

England 11 v  21 South Africa

Twickenham 27th November 2010

England were shown today how to play physical rugby by the masters of physicality the Springbok.  Countless penalties, I think the stats were 12 to England and only 4 to the Bok.   You can't win rugby matches being sloppy and careless and giving that many penalties away.

Hats off to the South Africans they came with a plan and executed it really well and they should have had many more points, they missed at least a couple of penalties and attempted drop goal.  They definitely should have had more points, England were lucky to be level with them at half time.

England's Tom Croft is challenged - Pictures by Empics

England were beaten at the scrum, beaten in the line out especially when Tom Croft went off injured and the Bok defence was superb England just could not get through no matter how many times they tried.  The only time they did get a try was from an interception and that was in the dying minutes of the game.

Tom Croft plays his last part in the game - Pictures by Empics

Before Tom Croft went off he showed how strong he is, charging down the touchline he was tackled but this eventually led to a penalty taken by Toby Flood .

Many England players took some massive hits Ashton, Flood, Cole.  Courtney Laws was all over the park and I could not understand really why he was taken off in the second half for Simon Shaw and not long after that replacement the second South African try went in.

When Charlie Hodgson came on for Flood, he looked relaxed and ready to enter the fray, Charlie did a great job today for my money and showed a sound head.

England have lots still to work on but my thinking on this is they were really up for the Australia match, the fact that it all came off and they all played well to a man that day...........  not sure what preparation they have had for this match but maybe the intensity of training was either too much or not enough.  Either way they looked nervy once again and some very bad passes and wrong decisions being made throughout  the whole game.

It has to be said again though the South Africans were immense in defence today, England kept attacking and attacking, they kept putting the ball from one site to the other but the Springbok had all the answers.

England captain Lewis Moody said: "We're just bitterly, bitterly disappointed. It's a game we'll look back on and be incredibly frustrated by.   "Fair play to South Africa - they played better than us. it's a simple game and we conceded too many penalties and made too many mistakes."

Have to say as England fan, yes I am also bitterly disappointed but the young England players will learn from this and become stronger.

My man of the match was Courtney Laws apart from giving a penalty away he was all over that field and his work rate was fantastic.  Picture by Empics

England (6) 11
Tries: Foden Pens: Flood 2
South Africa (6) 21
Tries: Alberts, Mvovo Cons: Steyn Pens: M Steyn 3

England: 15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Mike Tindall,
12-Shontayne Hape, 11-Mark Cueto, 10-Toby Flood, 9-Ben Youngs; 1-Andrew Sheridan, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Courtney Lawes, 5-Tom Palmer, 6-Tom Croft, 7-Lewis Moody (captain), 8-Nick Easter.

Replacements: 16-Steve Thompson, 17-David Wilson, 18-Simon Shaw, 19-Hendre Fourie, 20-Danny Care, 21-Charlie Hodgson, 22-Matt Banahan.

South Africa: 15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Gio Aplon, 13-Frans Steyn,
12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Ruan Pienaar; 1-Tendai Mtawarira, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 4-Bakkies Botha, 5-Victor Matfield (captain), 6-Deon Stegmann, 7-Juan Smith, 8-Pierre Spies.

Replacements: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-CJ van der Linde, 18-Flip van der Merwe, 19-Willem Alberts, 20-Francois Hougard, 21-Patrick Lambie, 22-Adi Jacobs.