England caught in South Africa’s headlights during Rugby World Cup final
- The Springboks did everything right when it mattered, and an upstart English squad could not top their semi-final win against the All Blacks
- The better team on the day won as Eddie Jones could not orchestrate another upset for the ages
The game plans played out as winning head coach Rassie Erasmus imagined they ought to, trapping England in a nightmare of having played their final seven days early. They were left rubbing their eyes at full-time after the wake-up call of their lives. How, they were left asking, had this happened?
England taste their own medicine
It was there – or, for England, wasn’t there – from minute one. South Africa clicked on the ‘b’ of the bang, much as England did in dominating New Zealand in their semi-final. All that was right about England then was absent now: imposing their will, grabbing the initiative, zest of a box of frogs. Asked to repeat it with the weight of expectation, they were a bag of nerves.
As they tend to when England have their dark days, disciplinary demons surfaced early and stuck around. Jerome Garces, the referee, penalised Courtney Lawes at the breakdown in the first minute and 50 more elapsed before they were regularly on the right side of the law.
South Africa were not error-free, but England were all over the place. Billy Vunipola flung a panic ball on to his brother Mako rather than truck it up. Passes went behind intended targets. One lapse of sanity sent play the length of the English back line behind their own posts. Decoy runners got in the way of playmakers George Ford and Owen Farrell when they did opt for the safety of cleared lines.
Their counterpart Handre Pollard, observing this anxiety dream of a performance, was unforgiving. Eddie Jones, the England head coach, had named an unchanged starting XV for the first time in nearly four years. They were there to be shot at, and the hunters became the hunted.
As half-time arrived, captain Farrell gathered his players to regroup and reset. They had just followed their best 80 minutes in living memory with their worst of recent times, and looked stunned. Things were not destined to improve.
Scrummed out of sight
If they played at times as if semi-somnambulant, England were lured into traps expertly laid by Erasmus and his Siya Kolisi-led side. Least surprising of these was their monstrous scrum.
Three scrum penalties at critical times hammered England, Pollard kicking them 12-6 in front on the stroke of the interval then extending the lead in the 46th minute. His team were being shaded in territory and possession but picked their moments and used choke tackles to seek yet more scrums.
Once South Africa’s front row were belatedly challenged, England’s goose was cooked. Jones was irritated afterwards by questions about whether the occasion had got to his side, saying: “Sometimes as a coach, you just don’t know what happened.” But he was clear that, beasted in the scrum, his team “couldn’t get on the front foot and then you look like you lack ideas and energy”. After a miserable night, Jones had got that much right.
Out of the box
The final had been billed as a box kick-fest with scrum half Faf de Klerk at the controls. And the tactic was deployed, but South Africa needed, and had, so much more. It had been described as the life and soul versus the killjoys, good against evil, the all-court guys or a grim death by anti-rugby. South Africa’s threat was always going to be big and abrasive, but it was bold and ebullient, too.
Yes, the huge pack, imperious line-out and stingy defence were present and correct, yet they revealed more of themselves when called upon. They had a wide threat, with their runners repeatedly receiving the ball between their opponents in white, with a sighting of open space ahead.
They also went wide with accuracy and urgency, whereas England appeared scatterbrained, reduced to ballooning passes over the heads of their inside backs, including danger man Manu Tuilagi, towards wing Anthony Watson. Several trickled into touch.
Kicking was varied. The lofty Pollard made a mismatch for himself by booting deep to the diminutive Ford then reclaiming his own punt, towing his side deep into England territory. It was to become a pattern: Pollard, rather than De Klerk, turning chief tormentor.
Shift the focus of attention
There were decisive contributions from both wings as South Africa stepped on the accelerator. While turning the touchline into England’s enemy, they cosied up to it – when it was on. They had the trophy in their sights 15 minutes from the end when an extra man was created on the left flank in Makazole Mapimpi, whose chip was reclaimed by Lukhanyo Am and returned to him to touch down near the posts.
England, it had been assumed, needed to manoeuvre the big green machine around to prosper, but there was no looping around the ball carrier, no zip, no switch of direction and very little kicking in behind.
Instead, they were the ones given the runaround. One minute they were being forced to concede another penalty to Pollard by pulling down an impromptu nine-man maul in the centre of the pitch – somewhat innovative, even if hidden in plain sight.
Then next, England were waking up to the fact that the hitherto little-seen Cheslin Kolbe, on the other wing, still had something to say on the big stage. Once his teammates had battered left, pommelled centre and left England dazed, they sent it right to Kolbe and the mighty mouse stepped outside and inside and scampered into history.
