Finally a performance to make English fans believe in a brighter future. The results are still not falling their way but a fifth defeat on the spin told only a fraction of the story of this compelling match. If the world champions ultimately walked away victorious, this was also the day that Steve Borthwick’s side answered a good few uncomfortable questions about their ability and tactical direction.
If all Test matches were this thunderous and hypnotically watchable there would be no need to rustle up half-baked fantasy schemes to try and flog rugby to the unconverted. The quicksilver Marcus Smith was again the attacking ringmaster for England but in the end the matchwinner was the even more diminutive Cheslin Kolbe, whose two brilliantly-taken tries saw the world’s No 1-ranked side home.
When they are staring into the abyss this England side have a habit of responding strongly. Here was another rousing example of it, with Sam Underhill playing like a man possessed in the back row and Freddie Steward underlining exactly why he was recalled for this fixture. With the elusive Smith, once again, pulling the strings superbly this was undoubtedly the home side’s best performance of the autumn.
They were still undone, though, at the crucial moment by a couple of missed tackles. First Damien de Allende surged through Ben Earl to get in behind the English midfield defence and the outstanding Kolbe then skinned Ollie Sleightholme to score the try that finally gave the Boks some daylight.
There was absolutely no shame in this display, even so. From the moment the pre-match fireworks, lights and lasers had concluded England were bang up for it, looking to dazzle with the ball whenever possible. Barely three minutes had elapsed when Smith shaped to attempt a drop-goal, only to scamper left instead and link expertly with Henry Slade to put the predatory Sleightholme over.
It was exactly the kind of bold decision that galvanises a team, particularly one trying to end a big match drought. The only downside was that it instantly woke up South Africa who were back level inside the first 12 minutes. Grant Williams is not your average one-paced scrum-half and, after a sharp burst of gas had taken him past Ellis Genge and George Martin, a beautiful left-foot step also left the final defender, Steward, for dead.
Within five minutes another hammer blow materialised. First Jack van Poortvliet and then Smith were charged down inside the home 22 and, with the ball obligingly staying in goal, Pieter-Steph du Toit applied the finishing touch. These Boks can loom large with and without the ball.
A storming contest was only just getting going. With advantage being played for English offside close to their line Manie Libbok took advantage of the free ball to float a cross kick over to Kolbe’s wing, with predictably quick-witted consequences. Kolbe has the ability to sidestep would-be defenders in a phone box and duly did so again.
England, though, were determined to keep playing and were rewarded within four minutes when Underhill, back in the starting XV in place of the injured Tom Curry and clearly a man on a mission, drove unstoppably over from close range. Smith’s conversion reduced the gap to just two points with half an hour of a breathless game not yet complete.
South Africa had also already lost the influential Ox Nché, complicating their usual second-half “Bomb Squad” bench strategy. England were also less than broken-hearted to see Libbok push a long-range penalty narrowly wide a minute prior to the interval and would definitely have settled for a 17-19 deficit before kick-off.
The question was whether they could stay in the game long enough to put real pressure on a Bok team who grow ever more steely in the closing stages of games. The visitors did not have a 7-1 monster munch of a bench this time but, perversely, that made them even trickier all-court opponents, with the experience of Handré Pollard and Lukhanyo Am on tap if required.
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And, when required they can play ball with the best of them. Had Aphelele Fassi’s final pass not drifted forward they would have scored another brilliant try through a flying Kurt-Lee Arendse within three minutes of the restart and a game which might have floated away from England was back in the balance.
A key turnover close to his own line from Earl also helped to keep England in it and, after Tommy Freeman had claimed a mighty high ball at the other end, it seemed his side had scored again with a long Smith pass creating enough space for Slade to go over. The celebrations, though, were again rudely interrupted, this time by a head-high roll by Maro Itoje on Malcolm Marx.
Smith was at least able to slot a penalty to put his side ahead 20-19 with just under half an hour remaining. No one in the stadium, even so, was about to write off the Boks, even when Will Stuart and the recently-arrived Cowan-Dickie combined to earn the kind of scrum penalty that every front-row forward craves.
Sure enough, Pollard kicked a trademark long penalty, bouncing it over off the crossbar for added effect, to put his team back in front approaching the closing furlongs. And then came the flashing finish of Kolbe, a familiar English nemesis. It felt like the final thrust and, despite the sin-binning of Gerhard Steenekamp, so it proved.
