Two irresistible tries by winger Cheslin Kolbe helped South Africa to a 29-20 victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday and though the home crowd was treated to a fantastic match, it meant a fifth successive defeat for Steve Borthwick’s men.
Ollie Sleightholme put England ahead, but three tries in 10 minutes by Grant Williams, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kolbe silenced Twickenham, only for Sam Underhill to power over for the hosts.
A penalty for Marcus Smith briefly had England ahead but a Handre Pollard penalty and winger Kolbe’s explosive second try made it 29-20.
England had shown plenty of attacking intent and no little physicality but, for all the talk of South Africa’s forward power, it was the finishing class of their backs that eventually made the difference.
The game caught fire from the start and rarely slowed. There were five tries in the first 26 minutes as both teams showcased the full range of attacking ploys, including probing kick-passes, quick-handed backs moves, sniping runs and raw strength.
Last week it was Smith’s kicking that cut holes in the Australian defence, but within four minutes on Saturday, he showed his running skills, zipping past two Springbok tacklers to set up Sleightholme to pick up as he left off against the Wallabies with a great finish.
South Africa levelled with a brilliant individual try by scrum-half Williams, who threw two outrageous sidesteps to leave three England defenders flailing.
Jack van Poortvliet, playing his first international since last August, and Smith were then both charged down trying to clear and Du Toit, England’s scourge in their World Cup semifinal defeat 13 months ago, scooped up the ball to score.
Steward was left for dead again when Kolbe caught an accurate kick by Manie Libbok and immediately stepped inside for South Africa’s third try in a 10-minute blast.
England hit back immediately when Underhill powered over to close the deficit to 19-17 at half-time.
Springbok winger Kurt-Lee Arendse sprinted over within three minutes of the restart but it was ruled out for a forward pass, then Henry Slade’s score for England was also chalked off for a Maro Itoje neck roll in the build-up.
A Smith penalty nudged England into a one-point lead after 52 minutes but, having lost five of their last six games after leading in all of them, there was not a person in the 82,000 crowd who allowed themselves to believe the job was anything like done.
As with so many of those defeats, England seemed to lose some ambition and replacement fly-half Handre Pollard, the man who broke English hearts in Paris, duly restored South Africa’s lead when he bounced a long-range penalty over via the crossbar.
Damian de Allende then blasted through some soft defence and once Kolbe got the ball in his hands there was only one outcome and it was 29-20.
England pressed hard as they camped in the South Africa half in the final 15 minutes, with Smith allowed to stay at flyhalf for once, but the Springboks defended with an almost manic determination, even when down to 14 men after Gerhard Steenekamp was sin-binned, and England eventually ran out of ideas.
Following their victory over Scotland last week that restored their number one ranking, South Africa now have the chance to cap a superb year, that brought them the Rugby Championship, by completing a hat trick of November wins in Wales next Saturday.
England, after home defeats against New Zealand, Australia and now South Africa will look for the smallest of consolations against Japan on Sunday.