The Springboks continued their recent domination of England after securing a hard-fought 29-20 victory at Twickenham on Saturday night.
A brace of tries by wing Cheslin Kolbe, ice-cool goal-kicking by replacement flyhalf Handré Pollard and some resolute defence saw the world champions triumph over the English once again.
Fine margins! 🤏
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🇿🇦 Handre Pollard smashes the crossbar but still makes the kick as he gets his @SpringBoks side back into the lead!#AutumnNationsSeries | #ENGvRSA pic.twitter.com/ksTsiC4akS
It keeps the dream alive of an unbeaten UK tour with one more Test against Wales in Cardiff next Saturday.
For a second week in a row the Boks were not at their best, but it just shows the class of the back-to-back Webb Ellis Cup winners to trounce a spirited England without hitting their highest gear.
Kolbe, who played out of his skin, was deservedly named Player of the Match for his two tries, but that effort by the team on defence in the second half – even with a player down for 10 minutes – showed the class of the Rassie Erasmus-coached outfit.
England were out of the blocks first with a beautifully created try by their flyhalf Marcus Smith, who dazzled the Bok defence with a fake drop goal set-up and dashed around the blindside to put wing Ollie Sleightholme away.
The Boks drew level through scrumhalf Grant Williams, who left all the English defenders in the dust with a smart snipe after a cross-field kick off the boot of Manie Libbok.
Bok flyhalf Libbok was responsible for Kolbe’s first try when he also put in a deft kick across the park for the No 14 to collect and score with virtually no defender to stop him.
Chef Manie is cooking up a feast at Twickenham 🥹🔥
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Libbok did miss a couple of kicks off the tee, but his overall play put his side in strong attacking positions in the first half.
The forwards allowed the backs to play, and there were some excellent lineout variations early on in the game.
Although they did lose a little of their lineout impetus when starting hooker Bongi Mbonambi left the field, his replacement Malcolm Marx made up for a few errors with his penalty wins at the breakdown that helped the Boks out of trouble late in the game.
Another brilliant score came when lock Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit worked in tandem to charge down two kicks from England halfbacks Jack van Poortvliet and Smith, with Du Toit getting the last touch from the latter’s clearance kick to dive on the loose ball over the tryline.
Kolbe’s second try, after centre Damian de Allende bulldozed his way through a couple of defenders, sealed the game for the visitors to keep their tour-winning record intact.
🤩 You just can't keep him out of the game!
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👏 Superstar Cheslin Kolbe works his magic against England once more. The @Springboks are now 9️⃣ points ahead!#AutumnNationsSeries pic.twitter.com/bz2znWOpHN
Both sides had tries chalked off that could’ve swung the game either way.
Despite scrummaging without a recognised loosehead prop after losing Ox Nche to an injury before halftime and a yellow card to his replacement Gerhard Steenekamp, the Boks were under the pump.
But thanks to the late defensive effort by the South Africans, they held their nerve to secure another famous win over England.
Points-Scorers
Springboks 29 – Tries: Grant Williams, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe (2). Conversions: Manie Libbok (2), Handré Pollard (1). Penalty: Pollard (1).
England 20 – Tries: Ollie Sleightholme, Sam Underhill. Conversions: Marcus Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (2).