{"id":674035,"date":"2026-07-04T21:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/674035\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T21:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T21:19:11","slug":"south-africa-make-statement-with-nations-championship-rout-of-england-nations-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/674035\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa make statement with Nations Championship rout of England | Nations Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a fabulous occasion this was, a thunderous way to kick off the new-look Nations Championship<\/a>. Anyone stumbling across the sport for the first time would have been truly staggered by the commitment of both teams, not to mention the spine-tingling pre-match rendition of \u201cNkosi Sikelel\u2019 iAfrika. This was top-drawer sporting theatre in the spiritual home of South African rugby.<\/p>\n

But when the smoke finally cleared on a cool, still Highveld evening there was a clear winner. Even though the world champion Springboks<\/a> were missing a clutch of influential forwards they were still way too strong for gallant but outgunned opponents. From 17-0 down after just 12 minutes England showed huge resolve to battle their way back to 17-14 at half-time but, having been reduced to 13 men late on, the upstart visitors had been put firmly back in their place.<\/p>\n

No outcome other than a resounding home victory had looked conceivable when the Boks stormed away into a 17-0 lead after just 12 minutes so it was to England\u2019s credit, not least the tireless Ben Earl, that the hosts could not absolutely hammer down the final nails until late on. That said, the quality of South Africa\u2019s first-half blitzkrieg even with a weakened pack was impossible to ignore and their squad depth remains the envy of the oval-ball world.<\/p>\n

From England\u2019s perspective, though, there will be a mixture of emotions. Before the game an exuberant series of lookalike acts played the parts of assorted British icons ranging from James Bond and the Beatles to Elton John and the Spice Girls and, similarly, Steve Borthwick\u2019s side cannot yet claim to be the real deal.<\/p>\n

Even without two of their central pillars following the withdrawal of Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth with hamstring and concussion issues respectively, the Boks had too much firepower and could even afford to play the former Harlequins centre Andr\u00e9 Esterhuizen at No 8 in the final quarter. In Damian Willemse, Grant Williams, Cheslin Kolbe and Jesse Kriel, they also have the backs to worry anyone.<\/p>\n

Admittedly it was rough luck to lose George Furbank, who will stay on in South Africa after having his appendix removed on the morning of the game, but it is now five successive defeats for Borthwick\u2019s England. George Martin was a forceful presence in the second row but the sin-binning of Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper means their team have been shown at least one yellow card in eight games in a row.<\/p>\n

Even against 15 players, though, South Africa were irresistible at times and had three tries on the board inside the first 12 minutes through Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse. England were not so much picked off as swept aside by an unstoppable green tide, as quick and slick across the backline as they were physical up front.<\/p>\n

George Martin scores for England just before half-time. Photograph: Nations Championship\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

If the sight of Ox Nch\u00e9 galloping free straight down the middle of the field in the lead-up to the nimble-footed Kolbe\u2019s score felt ominous, South Africa\u2019s aerial dominance and accuracy was arguably more so. The only straw to which the visitors could cling was that Kolbe could only land one of his first three conversion attempts but a 17-0 lead was still a major statement of intent.<\/p>\n

The Boks\u2019 blitz defence was also causing all kinds of mayhem, with the lightning-fast Williams also proving a real threat. For a while the closest England came to responding was when Jamie George, burrowing low from a metre out, had a try ruled out for offside but momentum then shifted dramatically in the last five minutes of the first half with Arendse in the sin-bin.<\/p>\n

First the committed Ellis Genge crashed over and then, with the interval beckoning, the massive Martin thundered through a couple of defenders in the left corner. Fin Smith\u2019s conversion, remarkably, sent England down the tunnel just three points behind. It was rich entertainment for a healthier-than-predicted crowd, swelled in number by last-minute cut-price tickets. South Africa\u2019s unemployment rate has risen to almost 33%, and, if they can afford it all, people are saving their money for the upcoming New Zealand tour.<\/p>\n

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Quick GuideSouth Africa 45-21 England: teams and scorersShow<\/p>\n

South Africa: Willemse; Kolbe, Kriel, De Allende, Arendse (Moodie, 67); Libbok, Williams (Reinach, 67); Nch\u00e9 (Steenekamp, 8; Wessels, 65), Marx, T Du Toit (Porthern, 46), P-S Du Toit (capt), Nortje, De Villiers (Van Staden, 46), Hanekom (Dixon, 46), Wiese (Esterhuizen, 65-75). <\/p>\n

Tries: Du Toit, Kolbe, Arendse, Williams, Kriel, Marx, Dixon. Cons: Kolbe 5. Yellow card: Arendse 29. <\/p>\n

England: M Smith; Feyi-Waboso, Freeman, Atkinson, Murley (Slade, 54); F Smith, Van Poortvliet (Mitchell, 54); Genge (Obano, 57), George (capt; Cowan-Dickie, 56)), Heyes (Opoku-Fordjour, 65), Coles (Ewels, 74), Martin (Pollock, 57), Chessum, Curry (Pepper, 54), Earl. <\/p>\n

Tries: Genge, Martin, Coles. Cons: F Smith 3. Yellow cards: Freeman 71, Pepper 73. <\/p>\n

Referee: James Doleman (NZ). Att: 52,790.<\/p>\n

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The second-half? South Africa were more clinical and ruthless when it mattered, Williams and Kriel slicing over to crank up the pressure on England once more. If Henry Pollock, roundly booed by his South African \u2018fan club\u2019 after coming on as a replacement, imagined he might be able to spark another revival he reckoned with the Boks\u2019 final quarter power surge.<\/p>\n

Further close-range tries from Malcolm Marx and BJ Dixon, with Freeman and Pepper in the bin, took the Boks into the forties and it was a ragged looking white-shirted defensive line by the end. \u201cWe were playing against the best team in the world and it doesn\u2019t get much tougher than that,\u201d said Borthwick, conceding South Africa had ruled the aerial kicking game. \u201cAll the coaches and players will be working very hard this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up England will face Fiji in Liverpool next Saturday before heading off to South America to face Argentina in Santiago del Estero, with their captain George lamenting his side\u2019s discipline but insisting \u201cfine margins\u201d had been involved. \u201cWe\u2019re gutted with the result because we genuinely believed we could come here and win,\u201d said George. \u201cTalking to the South African players afterwards they know they\u2019ve been in a Test match. We\u2019re going to be a significantly better team off the back of this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a fabulous occasion this was, a thunderous way to kick off the new-look Nations Championship. Anyone stumbling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-674035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}