England coach Eddie Jones has hailed his new-look rugby side after they withstood an early onslaught and came back to beat South Africa 12-11 at Twickenham.
Coach Eddie Jones “couldn’t be prouder” of his makeshift England team after they withstood a first-half battering to emerge 12-11 victors over South Africa and get their November international series off to a morale-boosting start.
England, particularly up front, were missing a host of regulars at Twickenham on Saturday and spent most of the first half desperately defending as they trailed 8-6 at the interval.
However, they found their attacking verve after the break to scrape the win with three penalties by Owen Farrell and one for Elliot Daly.
“(South Africa) have been together for six months – understand that,” the Australian told a news conference.
“We’ve had three training runs where we’ve had 15 players together and we put in a performance like that. The players deserve enormous credit. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
England were without Billy and Mako Vunipola, Nathan Hughes, Chris Robshaw and Joe Launchbury but the replacements stood up superbly to the Springbok onslaught. Stand-in No.8 Mark Wilson was named man of the match.
“We had a lot of guys new to Test rugby or their first cap and the way they stuck in the fight … when you get in those arm wrestles someone’s going to give and we didn’t give,” Jones said.
Co-captain Dylan Hartley was also delighted with the Alamo defence in the first half, a period during which England failed to once get into the Springbok 22.
“It’s not always scoring points that win you games, it can be defence and there were a couple of key moments where we were under the pump but came out of the other side, which is really rewarding and won us the game,” Hartley said.
Arguably the biggest moment of all, though, came after most of the crowd had risen to acclaim what they thought was England’s victory.
Australian referee Angus Gardner called for the TMO to rule on a crunching tackle by Farrell on Andre Esterhuizen – eventually deciding the five-eighth had made enough of an effort to extend an arm to be deemed legal.
He still faces a possible citing but Jones was in no mood to worry about potentially losing his most important player for next week’s match against New Zealand.
On his team’s failure to turn dominance into a victory, South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said: “We did a lot well but there were two obvious things we didn’t: finish our opportunities and our discipline.
“We missed Faf (de Klerk) as we always do but I thought the two nines didn’t do badly and we didn’t lose because of inexperience.”
De Klerk and several others were absent because the game fell outside the international window but will be back to face France next week.
Englishbob
Guest
Enjoyed the SA test, not to be trite but by the 80th minute the result was secondary, England were organised, largely disciplined and starchy in defence which is a solid base for now. England will roll Japan and probably Australia giving them 3/4 in the autumn, but I promise you no one in England is expecting anything but a fairly substantial hammering on Saturday, I'm going to enjoy watching England put in a shift against the magic AB's, I'll allow myself a scintilla of hope if England are winning by two scores with two minutes to play. To put this game in context, I would much much rather England lost Saturday to NZ and beat Ireland in the 6N opener in February. Game on
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Agree that by the time it came to his 4th terrible throw he should have been hooked. The throws were worse for the fact that several were not contended
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
No NZ, IRL, SA are the only contenders. In that order for change of winning and depth
moaman
Roar Guru
One thing DdA might take a look at is carrying the ball into contact in one big mitt.And losing it!
Ralph
Roar Guru
Good post OB. I suggest this is exactly what the AB's *need* from these tests, trench warfare is the thing we are least experienced in at the moment.
Old Bugger
Guest
Oh, I think England will acquit themselves very well, against the ABs. They will simply remind the ABs about how trench warfare is played, how solid defence lines are just as good as scintillating running rugby and, they will bring pressure upon the ABs from the get-go to the final whistle. It will be up to the ABs to not only meet this trench battle but more importantly, show the patience to give it back. It will be up to the ABs to decipher the English defence lines and be patient with ball in hand, to methodically overcome it. And, it will be up to ABs to equally apply their own pressure and defensive systems and not get frustrated with how long may take to finally overcome, their opponents. Patience should be the catch-word this whole week - keep it tight, keep it right and let the other side commit the errors and discipline losses cos if they don't, then England will kick goals all night, to win.
Lux Interior
Roar Rookie
I don't think you're wrong about the scrum in question. When the whistle went, I assumed the AR had been informing Gardiner from the moment he'd called bind that the England loosehead was blatantly scrumming on the angle. But no, the Twickenham Factor prevailed once again.
Ralph
Roar Guru
There many teams who will arrive at this RWC behind a sentence that starts, "If XYZ stay fit and in form then ..."
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
No, he wouldn't.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
The video ref showed Gardner every available angle. Please stop this inferred nonsense. De Allende was playing opposite a guy with 18 minutes rugby working in a line working with a new defence coach. And it showed at times. Not that that should detract from his performance - his errors did that. Pollard had far more claim - but missing a very kickable kick and not demanding the drop attempt at the death took it away from him for me.
Old Bugger
Guest
When Itoje was binned, the throw-in was bad. When Itoje came back, Kolisi called the line-out again and Marx's throw was worse. Then, the same thing again with the same terrible outcome. When things don't go right, you change the tactic or, you change the player making the same mistake over and over and over again. Rassie dropped the ball ('scuse the pun) on this lot just like Marx, couldn't throw the ball.
HodgePodge
Guest
I just hope Eng acquit themselves reasonably well against the ABs. While we all know they won't win, they need to give themselves some confidence heading towards the rwc.
adastra32
Roar Rookie
You are talking about the current WBs for the most part - still, as long as the game is a running and exciting....if not a winning one.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
I agree moaman, but it came into my head when I see what they have to build on over the next 12 months and the team seems pretty well settled. The problems they have to fix are game management, discipline and how to bring on the 'lift' when the oppositions fight back is on. If the Wallabies faced only those problems and had a squad like the SB then I would be feeling a lot better about our chances than I do about us getting to the semi's.
adastra32
Roar Rookie
To answer your question re: the Eng. media, the team has been royally dumped on for being ponderous and lucky with that last tackle. Maybe a bit of perspective is required especially re: RSA. They have been together for the best part of three months; Eng. had just three good training sessions before this one - yet they found a way to win, and RSA to lose.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
G'day folks, a frustrating game to watch but congrats to the England team who tackled their hearts out. I played rugby the smart way, ie: in the backline safe in the knowledge that brutes were unlikely to ruck over the top of me and fairly ignorant of the "dark arts". What I would like to ask my learned Roar bloggers concerns the wheeled scrum about the 69th minute that allowed O.Farrell to kick the winning penalty. I might be wrong so please correct me if so, but I thought the English LHP should have been penalised for boring in at a severe angle. Allow me to describe the vision. Scrum is about 25m from the SA line on England's left side of field, about 10-12m from sideline. The tv camera, and assistant ref, have a clear view of the blind side of the scrum. Youngs and A.Gardiner stand on the open side, Youngs' feed looks suspicious but A.Gardiner allows it so England hooker can keep feet on ground and push. Now on the blind side the England LHP and the flanker and lock behind him immediately bore in at about 60° and destroy the right-hand side of the Bok scrum. Gardiner awards a penalty to England. Am I missing something as Law 19:20 Scrums clearly says "Players may push provided they do so straight and parallel to the ground. Sanction: Penalty." A.Gardiner seems to have a NRL attitude towards scrums "don't care what you do, just finish them quickly". Thank gawd I stayed in the backs. :)
Thanks mate, yes I have been frustrated for a while and there seems no end in sight. It is hard to fathom why they are so inconsistent, it simply makes no sense.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
Bad luck Corne, but fully agree that SA shot itself in the foot rather than a glorious victory for the Rosies. Almost as if they hadn't played for 5-6 weeks, communication and concise teamwork just wasn't there. England defended well and showed the way to attack was incessant up-n-unders at the SA back three so should be congratulated for the win that was handed to them. They did this against the WB last year, just pumped high ball after high ball at small B.Foley and K.Beale which scrambled them in the head. Eddie calls it smart rugby and it's won him both matches so "winners are grinners". To me SA fields two teams, one who lost the plot against the Pumas at Estadio Malvinas (ref was Angus Gardiner) and the other that gave lots of grief to the AB and England. That inconsistency will kill them in a tournament such as RWSC2019, a shame as they are a very good team. Others bloggers, even in last year's RC, have commented on M.Marx's poor lineout throwing. He really cost his team big points there, he and perhaps the LO callers seriously need to put some work in there. As Itoje trundled off I fully expected SA to call a 5m scrum; even though the Bok LO seemed to be functioning OK and an England scrum without Itoje was likely minced meat. We will never know but wow you could see the shoulders go down as D.Hartley ploughed upfield from that too-high throw of Marx. A lot of poorly directed field kicks didn't help either. Although I disagreed with referee Gardiner on O.Farrell's "non-shoulder charge" I don't it as a pivotal point insofar as SA were a beaten side when Farrell ripped the ball from the SA forward about the 78:45 moment. And the penalty kick, if given, was not exactly a "gimme". For you and other Bok followers, I hope the REAL SA team front up next week. They are so much better than this.
Thanks RT.
Cliff Bishkek
Roar Rookie
Corne, fully understand the situation with Kolisi and he may grow into it. But there must be an overriding decision maker and a man who can be quick on decisions from time to time otherwise situations are lost. Good quick decisions from smart thinking Captains change games. But I do understand the situation with Kolisi. Maybe he will develop and grow into it.