Brutal and beautiful Boks batter England at Ellis Park

There was brutality and beauty in the way the Springboks dealt with England in their Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park.

The Boks won 45-21 and scored seven tries to three.

The Boks led 17-14 at halftime, having led 17-0 after 12 minutes.

They won without ever taking aim at a three pointer and they won without having to rely on their set piece in the opening half.

The Boks did not have a scrum feed in the first half and lost three of their own lineout throws.

They were not deterred and the second half produced more set piece solidity, field position advantage and familiarity as the Boks well and truly beat up an England team whose players had been calling out the Boks for the best part of a year.

When England beat the All Blacks 33-19 at the Allianz Stadium at Twickehham last November, they were bullish that they wanted the Boks next.

Well, they got them at Ellis Park, and surely would have wished they did not.

The Boks, in the opening quarter and final quarter produced a masterclass of contrasts. In the first half the 52 700 at Ellis Park got the beauty of two wing tries, a popular Thomas du Toit try and fullback Damian Willemse’s class on attack and under the high ball. In the final 15 minutes they got the famed Springboks lineout maul try, several Springboks scrum feed penalties and the power and precision of the Springboks on the charge.

England lost by 24 points and it could have been more.

The Boks were over in the final play of the match, for the no-try ruling but by them they had scored seven tries.

Willemse was the pick of the Boks in a stand out performance.

Youngsters Paul de Villiers and Cameron Hanekom started their first Test matches and Pieter-Steph du Toit again showed his qualities playing as a No 4 lock and captaining the side in the absence of the injured Siya Kolisi.

HOW SA RUGBY MAG CALLED IT

Boks coach Rassie Erasmus and his coaching team will take pleasure from how this win unfolded. There was the fast start, the dip, the restoring of balance and the powerful and potent finish.

It was a proper Boks win at Ellis Park, and it felt like those frenzied Test matches on the highveld when visiting teams find their legs and lungs gone in the final 10 miniutes.

England have won only once at Ellis Park, in 1972, and there was not a minute on Saturday that they were in the contest.

They scored two converted tries in the final four minutes of the first half but the 17-14 halftime deficit was not a reflection of a mach in which the Boks played with the authority of world champions and the No 1 team in the world.

When it ended they were 24 points better on the scoreboard and many more points better in so many different facets of the game.

SPRINGBOKS – Tries: Thomas du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Grant Williams, Jesse Kriel, Malcolm Marx, Ben-Jason Dixon. Conversions: Kolbe (5).
ENGLAND – Tries: Ellis Genge, George Martin, Alex Coles. Conversions: Fin Smith (3).