Springboks weather pre-game loss of Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth to blow England away at Ellis Park
Damian Willemse in the air for South Africa against England.
The Springboks started their Nations Championship campaign with a 45-21 win over England, who had two players sin-binned late in the piece, at Ellis Park.
Thomas du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Grant Williams, Jesse Kriel, Malcolm Marx and Ben-Jason Dixon crossed for tries while Kolbe kicked five conversions.
Ellis Genge, George Martin and Alex Coles got England‘s tries but late yellow cards for Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper ultimately dashed their dreams of a comeback.
Click here for scorers and match stats
There was disruption for both sides before kick-off as Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth were ruled out for South Africa while England full-back George Furbank had been taken to hospital with appendicitis. That meant starts for Cameron Hanekom, Paul de Villiers and Marcus Smith, as Dixon and Henry Slade were handed spots on the bench.
The Springboks came out of the traps full of running and had England on the ropes with three quick-fire scores that moved them into a 17-0 lead with 11 minutes played.
Prop Du Toit was the first to cross after just two minutes when slick handling got the Boks to within a metre of the line and the prolific now ex-Bath forward did the rest.
The gap was doubled on five minutes when a break from Ox Nche up the middle led to the ball being fired out to Kolbe, who stepped Cadan Murley to keep the momentum going. Kolbe would this time convert the crossing off the tee to give South Africa a 12-0 lead, with the English struggling for answers against what was a ruthless attack.
Incredibly, things would get worse for Steve Borthwick’s men when Arendse would then have too much power for Marcus Smith as he crashed over for an unconverted try.
England desperately needed something to stop the bleeding, and they thought they had it on 18 minutes when Jamie George scored. However, he was denied due to offside.
Still, though, hope came in a different form when Arendse was carded for a deliberate knock-on, and England quickly set to work making their numerical advantage count.
That they did as Genge led the charge, literally, tapping a penalty and bumping off Du Toit en route to a much-needed seven points that gave England massive confidence.
More was to come too before the break when lovely hands from Ollie Chessum in the wide channel found Martin, who skittled Jasper Wiese and Kolbe to crash over, sending the English support at Ellis Park wild. Fin Smith’s brilliant touchline conversion reduced the arrears to just three points at 17-14 as the match had turned on its head.
South Africa v England: Result, match details, stats, line-ups
There were no doubt contrasting changing room moods at the interval, and it was clear the Boks had Rassie Erasmus’ words ringing in their ears as they came out firing. With four minutes played, scrum-half Williams spotted a hole on the fringe of a ruck and duly sniped from close range to restore the 10-point lead they had previously.
South Africa continued to press home their early second-half dominance and this time slick hands saw Kriel finish off the try on the left wing, Kolbe converting.
England desperately needed another dramatic swing in the contest, and the emergence of pantomime villain Henry Pollock and others helped energise those in white, with Coles going over for a key try on 69 minutes that was converted by Fin Smith for 31-21. That set up a grandstand finish the Nations Championship game deserved.
However, England’s hopes weren’t helped by Freeman being binned for making contact with the head of Damian Willemse and then Pepper joining him after an early tackle.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
South Africa made their visitors pay and how as Marx rubber-stamped the win in the closing stages before Dixon added the gloss from close range with a minute on the clock.
The teams
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit (c), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Canan Moodie
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 George Martin, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Henry Slade
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
FPRO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)