Spring Tour: Springboks Fight Back To Leave England Soul Searching
by Paul Cook -
South Africa have bounced back from their disappointing loss to Ireland last week with a 31-28 win over England at Twickenham that was more convincing than the scoreline suggests.
Coach Heyneke Meyer had called his side out during the week for their poor performance in Dublin and they responded, combining brutal defence with superior game smarts and a vital cutting edge as England once again failed to come up with the hammer blows when they really mattered.
Down 13-6 at the break, a litany of handling errors and poor decision making from the home side had helped the Springboks gain ascendancy, despite them seeing precious little ball. But a well constructed try after the restart opened up a 14pt gap before Victor Matfield’s yellow card allowed England to roar back with two tries of their own.
The Springboks struck aga