Springboks beats England 22-17 in 1st Test
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Second-half tries by Morne Steyn and new captain Jean de Villiers broke open an attritional match to give South Africa a 22-17 win over England in the first Test at Kings Park on Saturday.
Steyn squeezed over early in the second half to put the Springboks ahead 11-6, their first lead of the match.
De Villiers finished an overlap in the same right corner 12 minutes later to send South Africa to victory in its opening test under coach Heyneke Meyer.
England led 3-0 and 6-3 early on in Durban, but South Africa’s powerful ball-carriers wore down a brave defence in the second for Stuart Lancaster’s second defeat in six tests in charge.
England wing Ben Foden scored in the final act of the game, but South Africa’s dominance for most of the second 40 was decisive.
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June 10th 2012 @ 3:58am
matthew said | June 10th 2012 @ 3:58am | Report comment
Very poor first half from the Boks, improved in the second half but nothing to get excited about at all despite being easily the better team with the scoreline flattering England. I thought the Wallabies and AB’s had far more synergy in their first hit out, the former against far steelier opponents.
June 13th 2012 @ 6:26pm
Ivan said | June 13th 2012 @ 6:26pm | Report comment
you forget, the Wobblies first hit out was a loss to Scotland.
June 10th 2012 @ 5:27am
Charging Rhino said | June 10th 2012 @ 5:27am | Report comment
In my opinion the score line flatters the Poms as the Boks bossed them around in the 2nd half, as the article above ends with. The only time that England came near the Bok try line in the 2nd was in the last 3 minutes of the game and they managed to score a consolation try.
Morne missed 4 kicks (10 points in total) plus another guaranteed 3 points went missing when Hougard took a quick tap right in front of the posts!!?
But a lot of handling errors, spills and other stuff needs to be better from the Boks next week. England got the rub of the green from Welsh at the breakdown, I’m not saying Welsh was bad at all but sometimes it just happens that way for a team when the ref decides to blow early. So I have no idea what England could do better to beat SA??? They were just completely shut down and dominated in the 2nd, so based on this game I can’t see them bouncing back with a win in this series….. unless SA plays as badly as they did in the 1st half for a whole game as England had parity in the 1st half.
June 10th 2012 @ 5:57am
Kuruki said | June 10th 2012 @ 5:57am | Report comment
The fact that South Africa dominated the second half so convincingly but couldn’t put them to the sword should be enough to keep England positive for the next test. Looking forward to it.
June 10th 2012 @ 6:57am
Colin N said | June 10th 2012 @ 6:57am | Report comment
“So I have no idea what England could do better to beat SA???”
Pick a 10 that actally plays flat? Pick a centre that actually challenges the gainline (Aka not Barritt)? They could make a huge difference, as well as doing the basics better.
As I said somewhere else, England fronted up, but it’s difficult to gain any sort of control when you are limp in attack with a 10 who doesn’t stand flat. Even worse was when the ball did slow down, his tactical kicking was awful which made it easy for the Bok back three.
Contrast that to Hougaard and Steyn who were pretty much pin-point with their kicking (well, Steyn’s place-kicking was off). So there’s plenty England can improve on, tactically, execution-wise and selection-wise.
June 10th 2012 @ 7:26am
p.Tah said | June 10th 2012 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Colin, who would you see as a better 10? (genuine question).
June 10th 2012 @ 8:11am
Colin N said | June 10th 2012 @ 8:11am | Report comment
Flood by far. Farrell’s a very consistant pace kicker with an excellent temperament, but a bit like Wilkinson, he doesn’t attack the gainline like Flood does.
The Leicester player has had his poor days for England, but when we’ve played well, it’s generally been because he has been in the team.
I personally think he’s very underrated by both people inside and outside of England. He’s not the quickest, but he does make breaks, he does stand flat, he does challenge the gainline, he does understand how to build phases and get a team moving forward, and his tactical kicking is better than Farrell’s.
To be fair, I can understand Lancaster’s loyalty to Farrell considering he didn’t do anything wrong in the Six Nations, but for me Flood is a far better fly-half.
It’s just a shame we couldn’t take advantage of the Boks’ rustiness in the first half. We made a couple of breaks and looked the more dangerous team in the opening period, although that’s not really saying much!!
Logic dictates it will be a lot tougher in the second and third Tests as South Africa further come together as a team and playing at altitude, but I take solace from the British & Lions three years ago.
Everyone said the first Test was their best chance of victory, but they quite clearly got their selections wrong and as a result were comfortably beaten.
The obvious changes were made for the second Test and they were unfortunate to lose in the second match, and then won the third one.
Hopefully, Lancaster will do the same thing and we can win the next Test, or at least be competitive for the whole 80.
June 10th 2012 @ 7:48am
TembaVJ said | June 10th 2012 @ 7:48am | Report comment
All 3 SH teams did not look at their best but the boks had more new combinations (forwards mainly)
I am so glad they brought back F Steyn, he is an awesome player. If you slot Lambie into 10 both FS and JD will get much better ball.
Worrying signs for all three teams but can be sorted with some time in training….
Its going to be a cracker of a 4N
June 10th 2012 @ 10:13am
ohtani's jacket said | June 10th 2012 @ 10:13am | Report comment
I thought England competed well at the breakdown, but lacked go forward in attack. They kept shuffling sideways across the face of the South African defensive line and that’s not going to challenge the Boks. There were a couple of probing runs, but nothing incisive. The Boks were one dimensional in attack for most of the game but there was a period where they discovered good things happened when they used width. Thought their passing out wide was better than usual.
June 10th 2012 @ 11:23am
Jutsie said | June 10th 2012 @ 11:23am | Report comment
This sums up my thoughts on the game to. England hand more than enough ball in the first half to go into the break with a handy lead but seemed bereft of ideas in attack. Their 5/8 is pedestrian and the only backline move that seemed to work was “give it to manu”.
June 11th 2012 @ 9:57pm
Ben S said | June 11th 2012 @ 9:57pm | Report comment
Do you know what the territory and possession stats were for the first half?
June 10th 2012 @ 10:32am
KiwiDave said | June 10th 2012 @ 10:32am | Report comment
This was a game of two halves. The first half was a boring kickfest as both teams were feeling each other out. Second half was a lot more entertaining as the Springboks kept the ball in hand and put together some excellent phases. The scoreline of 22-17 flattered England considering how dominant South Africa was in the second half.
Hougard gets a special mention from me. Game was 11-6, they get a penalty right out in front and he taps, runs and turns the ball over. Does this idiot ever learn? Did he learn nothing from the Bulls Stormers game where ironically they lost a game from a similar situation. You could see Meyer was fuming at the choice made there.
Lucky for South Africa that didnt come back and haunt them as they kept things going. Morne Steyn was horrible with the boot. Absolutely shocking goal kicking display and had he been on this game would have been won by double digits.
Out of the three main SH sides, the Springboks were the least impressive.
June 10th 2012 @ 4:14pm
Suzy Poison said | June 10th 2012 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Agree, but the Boks will improve a further 50% with time together, and I would have settled for a one point victory in Durban. That was England’s best chance. I thought Meyer went alright, his half time talk worked, plus some substitutions, for someone new to the international scheme. Overall I think it’s obvious he is a better coach than P Divvy. With Goosen coming back from injury, I think the Boks could grow thier game. Wallabies played well, surprisingly after the weak Tuesday showing. Maybe the extra time on the paddock helped? All Blacks hard to say, as Ireland were pathetic. Offered nothing on attack, absolutely useless. Overall despite all the talk about how the north is closing the gap, these three games proved the gap is as wide as ever. If Wales can’t beat Australia without three playmakers missing after playing a mid-week game, then I can’t see them winning a game. Same for England, if you can’t beat the Boks at sea level, after 3 days training, you never will.
June 11th 2012 @ 6:46am
mania said | June 11th 2012 @ 6:46am | Report comment
special shout out goes to bismark. got a quick penalty and taps and runs. gets tackled but continues crawling along the ground. WTF? other than that he played all right but needs to up his accuracy.
i’m not sure what game every one else was watching but i was impressed by the boks. the world definately needs to take notice of them. i take everything back that i said about meyer and will jump on his band wagon. boks were impressive in moving the ball around and the backs actually got a lot of ball. awesome gameplan and boks stuck to it.
habana was awesome. shame the past four years he’s been hampered by bad game plan at club and test level. good to see he still has the goods.
boks forwards impressed me as they were active and running the ball heaps.
willem is the man and hope theres room for him when schalk comes back.
i’m not a spies fan but have to give him credit. propbably the best game i’ve seen him play in the last 4-5 seasons.
morne was bizarre. missed his kicks but was involved in defence and even took the line on a few times. apt he got the try
boks this year are showing a lot of promise and will get better fromhere.not only do they have the forwards but now they’re using their backs as well,
welcome back boks. nice to have the AB’s honoured enemies back with a vengence.
June 10th 2012 @ 12:30pm
kiwi said | June 10th 2012 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
Anybody else see the irony in Steyn missing kicks and scoring tries?
June 10th 2012 @ 2:26pm
Sam said | June 10th 2012 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
The boks played like a new team only 3 training days into their 4 year journey. It wasn’t pretty but they got the result.
If England couldn’t do the business last night i dont see them having much success as the boks find their feet.
June 10th 2012 @ 3:52pm
Sircoolalot said | June 10th 2012 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
England need to select Flood, Haskell and Joseph for the next match
June 10th 2012 @ 7:13pm
wallaby fan said | June 10th 2012 @ 7:13pm | Report comment
Yes to Joseph. No to the other two.
I don’t think England need to panic or have anything to be ashamed about. The boks just got stronger as the game went on. Bit of luck and possibly England could’ve won that match.
Haskell will not make any difference. Farrell is a better player than Flood. JJ is the future for England. He and Tuilangi should form a 12/13 worthy o the ages.
June 10th 2012 @ 10:37pm
Sircoolalot said | June 10th 2012 @ 10:37pm | Report comment
Dunno mate.
England didn’t show any variation in attack imo. They didn’t look like winning the game only being gifted by the South Africans because they played poorly. Barritt is solid in defence but he’s not destructive enough in that regard to merit being selected agains the SH teams (except for Argentina because they’re sh*t).
I’m not sure if Farrell’s that much better than Flood to be honest, his distribution is woeful and he needs to be assertive with his kicking game, obviously his goal kicking is world class (unlike Flood). He’s certainly strong enough in defence to play 12 so you could slide him along there, but then who would you drop to bring in JJ?
It’s a hard call and i guess you can’t really play both Flood and JJ without dropping 2 in form players, so i would have JJ start at 13 with Tuilagi moving in to 12 and Farrell stays at 10 for the mo, but if he doesn’t show some improvement in his overall game then bring Flood on for him around the 50-60 min mark.
I actually think Haskell would be make a huge difference, he’s the only England back row player who has the mix of physicality, pace and attrition. He’s been playing a very hard working gritty game for the Highlanders and can cope with the Boks physicality. I would probably start Haskell or Johnson at 8, demote Morgan to the bench but bring him on around 60 for impact.
Lancaster really should have brought some more bulky locks with him though, they’re really light weight there. Need another guy like Martin Johnson to blast the rucks!
June 10th 2012 @ 11:21pm
Colin N said | June 10th 2012 @ 11:21pm | Report comment
“Farrell is a better player than Flood.”
When has Farrell showed for either England or Saracens that his attacking game is better than Flood (Who was integral in Leicester scoring the most tries in their domestic league in Europe this season)?
June 10th 2012 @ 10:07pm
Nicksa said | June 10th 2012 @ 10:07pm | Report comment
I must say i am pretty happy the way the boks played, scrum looked awesome how often do u see english scrum get demolished? lineout can improve and the obvious issue in the first half was the break down. Bench was awesome! Poms will stay the same and boks will get better as the series goes on. so nice to finally have a decent coach.
All blacks all class!! the irish wont sh*t right for a while!!
Well done wallabies, i must say i thought the welsh might just pip them but the wallabies showed heart when they had their backs against the wall!!
June 10th 2012 @ 11:18pm
Colin N said | June 10th 2012 @ 11:18pm | Report comment
“scrum looked awesome how often do u see english scrum get demolished?”
The scrum was pretty even when England actually timed their hit properly. The only time South Africa had the upper hand was at the end when for some reason we took a loosehead off and put a tighthead on and, unlike Stevens, I have never seen Doran-Jones play in that position of the scrum.
June 11th 2012 @ 11:34am
Suzy Poison said | June 11th 2012 @ 11:34am | Report comment
As England conceded two penalties and three free-kicks at the scrum to South Africa, it’s fair to say that the Boks had the upper hand in this area, especially at the end. Remember the Boks have had a rubbish scrum for a few years, with John Smit playing out of position, for quite a while. The work that the French Scrum doctor Pieter De Villiers has done, has changed all that.
June 11th 2012 @ 7:03pm
Ben S said | June 11th 2012 @ 7:03pm | Report comment
Pretty sure two of the free kicks were for early engagement, which says nothing. I thought the scrums were even (bearing in mind Marler debuted at 1) until PDJ came on.
June 11th 2012 @ 9:36pm
Colin N said | June 11th 2012 @ 9:36pm | Report comment
As Ben says the free-kicks were for early engagement. That’s only a sign of dominance if England were being pushed back in previous scrums, which considering I think they were the first three set-pieces, no-one had got the upper hand.
Johnson’s penalty was for stupidity and inexperience. The ball was basically going straight through the scrum before he hooked it with his hand. If he had just left it, it would have been a re-set.
The only penalty for a genuine shove was when Doran-Jones was on at loosehead and he’s a tighthead.
June 12th 2012 @ 1:47am
steve.h said | June 12th 2012 @ 1:47am | Report comment
There was more than one scrum where England was shoved back and one resulted in a turn over as the scrum sung around the 180.
June 12th 2012 @ 2:29am
Colin N said | June 12th 2012 @ 2:29am | Report comment
“There was more than one scrum where England was shoved back and one resulted in a turn over as the scrum sung around the 180.”
Yes, when Doran-Jones was at loosehead, you know that tighthead who was playing out of position at the end who I keep referring to?
June 12th 2012 @ 3:02am
Ben S said | June 12th 2012 @ 3:02am | Report comment
Just going to add that Doran-Jones is arguably England’s 4th choice tighthead, btw.
June 10th 2012 @ 10:25pm
Seiran said | June 10th 2012 @ 10:25pm | Report comment
What? Steyn scored a try? Unbelievable
June 10th 2012 @ 11:37pm
AndrewCT said | June 10th 2012 @ 11:37pm | Report comment
And missing kicks at goal as well. What kind of madness is this?