South Africa's centre Jesse Kriel (L) reaches for the ball as South Africa's wing Kurt-Lee Arendse tackles England's centre Ollie Lawrence during the Autumn Nations Series International Rugby Union match between England and South Africa at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in south-west London South Africa's centre Jesse Kriel (left) reaches for the ball as South Africa's wing Kurt-Lee Arendse tackles England's centre Ollie Lawrence. The Springboks beat England 29-20 in their Test match at Twickenham on Saturday. Picture: Justin Tallis/ AFP
Image: Justin Tallis/ AFP
The Springboks claimed a hard-fought 29-20 victory over England in their Test match at Twickenham, in London, on Saturday.
In a Test match which began firmly in favour of England, the lead would change a number of times before the Springboks ground their hosts down in the final quarter of the clash.
Ultimately, it was a masterclass in tactics from Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus and his skipper Siya Kolisi to first keep pace with a highly-motivated England outfit before showing just why the men in green are Rugby World Cup champions.
England opened the scoring in the fourth minute as wing Ollie Sleightholme went over in the corner after a number of attacks on the Springbok line. Marcus Smith slotted the difficult conversion to make it 7-0 to the hosts.
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A moment of brilliance from Springbok scrumhalf Grant Williams saw his side strike back in the 12th minute. Manie Libbok added the extra two, to level the scores (7-7).
England moved ahead again on the quarter-hour mark as Smith added a penalty for his side (10-7).
A quite incredible charge down from Eben Etzebeth saw Pieter-Steph du Toit barge his way over for a try as the Springboks hit the lead for the first time. Libbok nailed the tough conversion to make it 12-10 in favour of the Boks after 17 minutes.
An impressive cross-kick from Libbok saw Cheslin Kolbe gather the ball and dive over for the Springboks’ third try of the evening. Libbok was successful again with the conversion to open a 19-10 lead after just 23 minutes.
England, intent on keeping pace with the Boks reeled off a number of phases in their opponents’ 22 before flank Sam Underhill powered over for a score which was converted by Smith to make it 19-17 after 27 minutes.
The score remained unchanged until the interval, in the hard-fought battle.
After a disallowed try for either side after the break, Smith kicked a penalty in the 52nd minute to make it a one-point game (20-19) but this time in favour of England.
Coming on in the second half for Libbok, flyhalf Handre Pollard bounced a long-range penalty off the crossbar to put the Springboks in the lead in the 58th minute (22-20).
Kolbe bagged his brace in the 63rd minute as centre Damian de Allende made a break, before unleashing his teammate on the touchline who sped away from the England defence for a brilliant score. Pollard made the difficult conversion to make it 29-20 to the Springboks.