Not overly satisfied but it was mission accomplished for Boks

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus reckons it would be arrogant to beat England by nine points at their headquarters and then not be happy with the result, but the reality is that the world champions set high standards for themselves.

Perhaps the real indication of how the Boks felt about the 29-20 win that puts them on the cusp of completing an end-of-year tour unbeaten for the first time in more than a decade was how the players reacted when referee Andrew Brace blew the final whistle to end a pulsating game that nonetheless saw both teams make errors they shouldn’t be happy with.

Instead of the elation you might have expected, the Bok players looked muted - and so did the coaches when the television cameras flashed on them. Instead of the high fives and celebratory fist pumps, there was earnest conversation. Although the win was something to be pleased about, the performance as a whole fell short of expectations.

“It was tough. We also had to work hard last week for the victory (against Scotland),” said Erasmus at the post-match press conference.

“We missed a kick here and there and both teams were disallowed tries in the second half, while the injury to Ox (Nche) disrupted the way we planned to do things. We were certainly not happy with the performance, but if you beat England by nine points, it could come across as arrogant to say that. So, we are content with the result.”

WON WITHOUT ENGAGING A-GAME

Erasmus should be content as this was the big game of the tour and while the Boks were short of their A-game against an England team that raised their effort a notch or two from their most recent efforts and arguably turned in their most resilient performance of the Autumn Series, they did still win by nine points.

While it was England’s fifth loss in as many games dating back to the start of the two-match series against the All Blacks in New Zealand in July, it was also the widest margin against a team that has made a habit of being nearly men, but which wasn’t that far away from winning most of those games.

It was a penalty that struck the post and then a wide drop-goal attempt off the last move of the game that denied them against the All Blacks at Twickenham two weeks ago. There were costly mistakes in this game too, but for most of the final quarter, they were too far away from being in a winning position to list any particular mistake as a match-losing moment.

Just as was the case against Scotland the week before, it didn’t always look like the Boks were engaging their top gears, but they have won both of their games and with a match against struggling Wales to come in Cardiff next week, they look likely to complete the tour with three wins out of three as well as finish the rugby year as the No 1 team in the world.

The Springboks scored four tries to two by England and kicked three conversions and a penalty goal to two penalty goals and two conversions by the hosts, who they last met in the World Cup semifinal.

UNDERHILL TRY CHANGED GAME'S NARRATIVE

There was a stage of the first half, after they’d fought back from an early 7-0 deficit to score three tries in the space of 11 minutes and lead 19-10, that the Boks looked likely to score the comprehensive win many were anticipating. However, a key moment of the game was the Sam Underhill try in the 27th minute that brought them back into it and gave the hosts hope.

By the time England took the lead after the 50-minute mark through a Marcus Smith penalty, the momentum of the game had swung, with England camping in South African territory. But the Boks are renowned for their ability to find a way to win, indeed the diametric opposite to England, and their grit and tenacity plus a marvellous X-factor moment when Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe combined for Kolbe’s second try, plus Handre Pollard’s excellent touchline conversion and a long-range penalty, enabled them to prevail once more.

After 12 games the Boks have 10 wins, with the two defeats both being by the margin of just a solitary point, so in many ways it was another day at the office for the world champions. They have an injury concern over prop Ox Nche, but are anyway likely to go with a changed-up team in their last match of the year in Cardiff.

DEPTH AND GRIT GOT SA THROUGH

Nche’s first-half injury was one spoke in the wheel for the Boks as it had to change Erasmus’ planning around the use of his bench. It wasn’t quite the usual bomb squad effect from the Bok replacements, but it almost goes without saying that there was considerably more impact brought from the likes of Malcolm Marx, who struggled a bit with his lineout throwing, Kwagga Smith, Elrigh Louw and Pollard, who delivered a calm and commanding performance as the replacement flyhalf, than England’s bench did.

“We are a team that believe in fighting until the end and chasing lost causes, and that’s pulled us together as a group,” said skipper Siya Kolisi afterwards.

“We had to dig deep, but the players never gave up and kept on believing and that’s special about this group, and it allowed us to go all the way.”

With Erasmus making 12 changes to the starting team that faced Scotland, he admitted that while they felt pressure at certain points in the match, the team selected added some sense of comfort.

“We named an experienced team and one that has played important matches,” said the coach.

“Many of them played in the closing match of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship against Argentina, but to hang in there with the yellow card, shows the planning by the coaches.

 “In fact, if Vincent (Koch) was not named as a loosehead prop on our team sheet, we could have gone to uncontested scrums and had to play with 13 players on the field (because of the injury to Nche), so I’m pleased with the calm heads the players showed and how they remained calm and collected."