By Duncan Wood
November 26 2002

I watched the England vs South Africa game with half an eye on the ball and half an eye on how Phil Christophers was doing. The Shoguns winger had a fine game overall and more than played his part in the victory.

Ben Cohen and James Simpson-Daniel had both played their part in the New Zealand and Australia games so Phil could have been forgiven for feeling a bit under pressure before the South Africa game!

Clive Woodward played quite a cute psychological trick in the build up by insisting that Phil had very nearly been given the nod ahead of JSD for the New Zealand game. That would have given Phil a boost. A chicken pox scare probably wouldn't have!

Onto the game itself and he had a slightly shaky start when he knocked on in contact twice. I would say that was more down to the ferocity of the tackling than anything else and he soon settled down.

One early run saw him given a bit of space out wide and he quickly made ground before using the famous sidestep and turning Breyton Paulse inside out. Paulse is an experienced international winger and certainly no slouch so to bamboozle him in that way was no mean feat.

Ben Cohen got most of the ball and most of the plaudits after that but Phil popped up from time to time and contributed. He actually did some pretty good tidying work around the ruck area and used his speed and sidestep to set up good ball.

Finally, there was the score that he was denied when Werner Greeff nearly took his head off and the penalty try was awarded. Phil actually started that move seep in his own half with a nice swerve and sidestep before moving the ball along the line.

He then received the ball again on the Springbok 22 before accelerating towards the line. He sidestepped off his right foot this time and only the high tackle prevented the score which he richly deserved.

It was a really good full Twickenham debut for Phil and I'm sure that we'll be able to enjoy watching him play for England many times in the future.