Lucky, ugly, penalised to death, but it is a win.

From the first scrum when Corbisiero was scrumming in at an angle of 45 degrees and Jannie du Plessis got penalised with 1 minute and 35 seconds on the clock I thought " here we go"

Nigel Owens started the match very similar as the referee who officiated Ireland vs South Africa 2 weeks ago. It was 4 penalties to England before SA got their first, and once again a penalty count of 18 to 9 tells a one sided story.

Anyway enough of that. Considering that the condition were poor I never expected much of a running game or any excitement to follow.

The truth of the matter is it was not a good match, England for all their industriousness never looked like scoring a try. south Africa didn't look like scoring either and fortune favoured them in a bizarre moment when Gurthro Steenkamp lost the ball backwards five meters from the line, JP Pietersen toed the ball forward, England couldn't gather and Alberts went over.

There after nothing much happened for either team.

Meyer will be pleased that his injury ridden team came through the end of their season undefeated.

You really think the ref favoured us?

Really?

du Plessis got penalised for binding on the arm. It doesn't matter what happens after that as the offence has already happened. I don't know if he was right to penalise for that but it makes Corbisiero's angle irrelevant.

A win is a win. South Africa looked really poor in general but still were still relatively comfortable in defense. Again we have the situations were most SA carriers make significant ground every time and English carries make little, no or negative ground most times.

The daft decision at the end was indeed daft but it should have been an instant drop-goal if it was being taken.

As for the 'lucky' try, well you have to take your luck. South Africa reacted better than England. Look at the Samoan try at the end last week. Ball bounced away from Halfpenny and the try is scored.

Is this your last game? If so it's good to end it on a win. Unfortunately we have no chance of doing the same.

LT: I don't think he favoured Engand in general, but those aerial shots of the scrums quite clearly showed the England no.1 was scrumming in quite drastically. The ref missed them, but that doesn't lead me to believe he was biased....I always hold that a team must be good enough to win with the conditions on the day. The way the ref blows things is part of the 'conditions'. Just as well the boks were able to win (only just) under the conditions

Interesting stats.
Pretty good for England bar the line out .........& result!

England South Africa
0 Tries 1
0 from 0 Conversion goals 1 from 1
5 from 7 Penalty goals 3 from 3
71.4% Kick at goal success 100.0%
0 Dropped goals 0

Kick/pass/run
35 Kicks from hand 39
144 Passes 65
114 Runs 64
417 Metres run with ball 174

Attacking
58% Possession 42%
60% Territory 40%
2 Clean breaks 0
13 Defenders beaten 9
6 Offloads 3
91 from 94 (96.8%) Rucks won 54 from 61 (88.5%)
4 from 5 (80.0%) Mauls won 7 from 8 (87.5%)
13 Turnovers conceded 12

Defensive
79/9 Tackles made/missed 155/13
89.8% Tackling success rate 92.3%

Set pieces
6 won, 0 lost (100.0%) Scrums on own feed 7 won, 1 lost (87.5%)
13 won, 5 lost (72.2%) Lineouts on own throw 11 won, 1 lost (91.7%)

Discipline
9 Penalties conceded 18
0/0 Yellow/red cards 0/0

Small margins in this game.

England missed two kicks, SA none. They lost possession at least 3 times through not throwing straight.

They were forced to play the match with Barrit in the team.
Botha forgot which side he was playing for at the restart


On our day we couldve beaten anyone so long as they gifted us as many chances

de Villiers has stated earlier in the year they wouldve lost the game. So we can blame the lack of a global season on the loss, and take the moral victory

I felt SA were playing well within themselves. Cruising comfortably and easily controlling the game knowing that England (especially in those conditions) would not manage to put together decent phases and attacking play.

Two stupid kicks: 1) Pienaar kicking the ball out on the full from just outside the SA 22, 2) Lambie kicking the ball out from the restart, allowed back into the contest through the resulting penalties.

Feeling good about next year and leading unto the 2015 WC. Seriously good players to return from injury and stints in Japan. This year has forced HM to blood youngsters and SA has greatly improved depth as a result.

The makings of a top team are there. Strong pack, amazing defense, good setpiece etc

People must bare in mind that this team is pretty much as young and inexperienced the England team.

Watch out for this team next year:

Beast
Bismark - Strauss as cover
Dr Jannie du Plessis - Coenie covering both sides of the scrum
Etsebeth - Flip as cover
Bekker - Kruger as cover
Burger - Alberts as cover
Louw - Brussow as cover
Vermeulan - Spies as cover
Pienaar - Hougard as cover
Goosen - Lambie as cover
Habana
Steyn
de Villiers - give him one more season. Fourie back for 2015
Pieterson
Kirtchner - Taute as cover

With other established players to consider and youngsters such as Jordan and Jantjies (big season next year for him at the stormers) ever improving...there is alot to believe in.

For England, while Flood is currently their best 10 he will limit this teams growth and progress. He is their by default rather than by being outstanding or having the potential to be so. Goode or Burns should be invested in. To really take this team forward a tough call needs to be made at 10. Think the makings of a great pack are there although as usual some of the youngsters are being over lauded in the UK press and being labeled as 'world class' etc. This just places unreasonable expectation and pressure on these players

In the backs there's the X factor and power in Manu and clinical finishing of Ashton. Foden to me remains England's classiest 15. My money is on England for the 6N.

MMaaxx wrote:I felt SA were playing well within themselves. Cruising comfortably and easily controlling the game knowing that England (especially in those conditions) would not manage to put together decent phases and attacking play.

Two stupid kicks: 1) Pienaar kicking the ball out on the full from just outside the SA 22, 2) Lambie kicking the ball out from the restart, allowed back into the contest through the resulting penalties.

Feeling good about next year and leading unto the 2015 WC. Seriously good players to return from injury and stints in Japan. This year has forced HM to blood youngsters and SA has greatly improved depth as a result.

The makings of a top team are there. Strong pack, amazing defense, good setpiece etc

People must bare in mind that this team is pretty much as young and inexperienced the England team.

Watch out for this team next year:

Beast
Bismark - Strauss as cover
Dr Jannie du Plessis - Coenie covering both sides of the scrum
Etsebeth - Flip as cover
Bekker - Kruger as cover
Burger - Alberts as cover
Louw - Brussow as cover
Vermeulan - Spies as cover
Pienaar - Hougard as cover
Goosen - Lambie as cover
Habana
Steyn
de Villiers - give him one more season. Fourie back for 2015
Pieterson
Kirtchner - Taute as cover

With other established players to consider and youngsters such as Jordan and Jantjies (big season next year for him at the stormers) ever improving...there is alot to believe in.

For England, while Flood is currently their best 10 he will limit this teams growth and progress. He is their by default rather than by being outstanding or having the potential to be so. Goode or Burns should be invested in. To really take this team forward a tough call needs to be made at 10. Think the makings of a great pack are there although as usual some of the youngsters are being over lauded in the UK press and being labeled as 'world class' etc. This just places unreasonable expectation and pressure on these players

In the backs there's the X factor and power in Manu and clinical finishing of Ashton. Foden to me remains England's classiest 15. My money is on England for the 6N.

If only that was true - I would feel so much better. However I thought SA were very average and at times struggled to contain England. And yet we still lost. England are a poorer side than the current (injury ravaged) mediocre Aus & SA. Doh!