England have put their World Cup travails firmly behind them, Australia have a mountain to climb and Wales coach Rob Howley faces some tough decisions It is remarkable how quickly sporting fortunes can swing. A year ago, England were failing to escape their World Cup pool on home soil while South Africa were just two semi-final points away from reaching the final. Twelve months on, the Springbok team is a very different, more vulnerable animal. The simultaneous loss of several long-time stalwarts has coincided with a continuing player exodus to Europe and Japan, while the politics of transformation further complicate Allister Coetzee’s task. The Boks should overcome Italy this weekend but, longer-term, the outlook looks highly uncertain. England, on the...
The Springboks coach insists his team will not lose their aura, but after their defeat to England he faces a lot of work to halt their slideBack at the start of the month, South Africa’s head coach, Allister Coetzee, was asked about the “aura” of his side. The Springboks had lost five of the nine games they had played since the last World Cup, going down to Ireland in Cape Town, Argentina in Salta, Australia in Brisbane, and New Zealand in both Christchurch and Durban, the last of those a 42-point thrashing, the worst defeat they had ever suffered at home. “The Springboks will never lose their aura,” Coetzee said, “definitely not.” Coetzee, who spent 22 years playing the game...
Ben Youngs was integral to England’s speed against South Africa but Dylan Hartley’s leadership was also a key factor in the victory Related: Eddie Jones uses Ali inspiration to outfox lumbering South Africa | Andy Bull Related: South Africa’s thin confidence popped by farcical Charlie Chaplin try for England | Michael Aylwin Continue reading...
Head coach draws on Rumble in the Jungle tactics to ease England to long overdue victory against the Springboks and extend his winning run to 10 gamesThis being Remembrance weekend, the match began with a minute’s silence and England’s players wore red poppies as well as red roses. But this past week marked another, far more trivial, anniversary too, one that went unlamented. Saturday was a year and a day since Stuart Lancaster quit as England’s head coach after the debacle of the World Cup. In terms of personnel, this England XV was not all that different from some that Lancaster fielded during his four years in charge. The pack was pretty much exactly the same as the one he...
The Springboks came to bully England but the scars inflicted by All Blacks thrashing were brutally exposed by a moment of slapstick at TwickenhamSo, South Africa remained unbeaten against England for a week shy of 10 years, a run of 12 matches. It was an impressive record. It is something to cling to. And they will take anything just now.This was a dispiriting prick of the balloon – and balloon-thick is South Africa’s confidence at the moment. Now they must add the 37 points conceded here to the 57 they shipped last time out a month ago to the All Blacks – at home in Durban. Lob in a host of other indignities over the last couple of years –...