07/04/26 03:07:00
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07/04 15:05 CDT South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in
Nations Championship
South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in Nations
Championship
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) --- South Africa tore apart England 45-21 after
a stunning three-try blastoff in Nations Championship rugby at Ellis Park on
Saturday.
The shock and awe start by the Springboks for a 17-0 lead inside the first 12
minutes gave the double world champions a cushion they rode to their biggest
win over England in 18 years.
The English impressively fought back to trail by only three at halftime but
they succumbed to South Africa's heavy carries and ruthless finishing, and were
down to 13 players at fulltime.
England has suffered five straight losses on the back of a 12-match winning
streak.
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus rated the performance as "above average" after
they were forced in the morning to play debutant Paul de Villiers and one-cap
Cameron Hanekom in the back row, and move star flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit
into lock.
Captain Siya Kolisi was ruled out by a hamstring issue and Eben Etzebeth by a
head knock. England also had to reshuffle when fullback George Furbank was
sidelined by appendicitis after working two years on his test recall.
"If you buy into the system and understand the system, the system will take
care of the player," Pieter-Steph du Toit said. "That's the nice thing about us
at the moment is that we've got a really good system."
The late changes to the Springboks were made light of by the explosive start.
England was barely sweating when Boks fullback Damian Willemse charged the
tryline and prop Thomas du Toit burrowed over in the third minute. A Willemse
chip and catch was followed by prop Ox Nche shrugging off England's Ollie
Chessum and Jamie George and shooting away for Cheslin Kolbe to cross in the
right corner. Kolbe converted his try.
Nche left with a knee injury that Erasmus called serious but moments later
Kurt-Lee Arendse swept past Marcus Smith and over in the left corner. The first
three entries into the England 22 netted three rampant tries and the crowd of
52,790 was partying.
Arendse was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and his absence was exposed
well by England's Fin Smith and namesake Marcus Smith to get a foothold in the
game.
Stand-in skipper George had a try ruled out for being offside but teammate
Ellis Genge tapped a penalty to himself and crashed over, then lock George
Martin bulldozed Jasper Wiese and Kolbe to score his first try for England.
Down only 17-14, the visitors had physical momentum but in the new half they
were slow out of the blocks again and South Africa was clinical.
Boks scrumhalf Grant Williams dummied and crossed for the bonus-point fourth
try in the 45th minute, and Kolbe added the extras as he kicked better the
longer the match went in his 50th test.
Center Jesse Kriel was next to score. The South Africa procession was
interrupted by England's Alex Coles then resumed after Tommy Freeman and Guy
Pepper were the visitors' ninth and 10th yellow cards this year.
South Africa completed the rout with converted tries to Malcolm Marx and
Ben-Jason Dixon for their highest score and margin against England since a 42-6
result in 2008 at Twickenham.
Next Saturday, England returns home to play Fiji while South Africa hosts
Scotland.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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