England vs. South Africa 18/11/2006

Match Review

A stay of execution for Robinson? A sub-standard performance? Who knows, and frankly who cares for the next paragraphs at least. All I can say for certain is that the World looks a very different place after a win. Phil Vickery's 73 rd minute try helped England to a 23-21 victory over the Springboks on Saturday, finally halting their run of seven straight defeats.

Charlie Hodgson got England underway with a penalty in the opening minute after a few phases of English pressure, but that lead was swiftly eradicated when Butch James took advantage of a slice of unbridled idiocy from Martin Carry, who decided to say a very high, late and dangerous “hello” to his opposing fly-half after the ball had been kicked. The home side's skipper escaped further retribution from the referee and stayed on the field, soon overseeing a scrum from which England received a penalty, which Hodgson failed to convert.

Hodgson's indifferent form continued apace as, in the 13 th minute, he threw the now compulsory intercept pass to Jean De Villiers who raced up the touchline, only to be crashed into touch just in time by Josh Lewsey, who would continue his game in a similar defensive vein. His Wasps colleague Tom Palmer provided England 's next splash of inspiration. Stealing a Springbok line-out, Palmer broke away and despite a clumsy offload from Corry (who seems to be under the impression that he is LeBron James), England won a penalty, and took a 6-3 lead.

The second quarter of the match was characterised by England 's woeful kicking from hand. Lewsey proved the culprit on two occasions, putting one ball out on the full only a minute after his clearance kick found Francois Steyn who, having already fired a considerable warning shot, slotted a drop goal from some 45m to level the scores. After another try saving tackle from Lewsey on Steyn, the England full-back was isolated on the floor after England failed to find any inspiration from countless phases of possession. His opposite number, Steyn, missed the kick.

Next, it was Ben Cohen's turn to miss touch by an embarrassing margin, and Steyn, James and De Villiers combined on the counter attack with James going in to score in the left corner after De Villiers had bumped off an attempted tackle from Hodgson. The miss proved to be the last act of the Sale man's game, and indeed his season, as he limped off with a cruciate ligament injury.

The sense of déjà vu slithering in and out of a nervous Twickenham crowd at half time was compounded shortly after the break. Moving down the blind side, James, with a nonchalant glance towards the crowd, poked a delightful chip in behind England 's worryingly passive defence which was collected by Akona Ndungane for what was, remarkably, his first International try.

England took advantage of De Villiers' trip to the sin bin for killing the ball, when Lewsey peeled off a good pass from Andy Goode, on for Hodgson, and combined with Mathew Tait. Peter Richards broke from the resulting scrum before Goode barrelled over the line, only to see the ball knocked from his hands towards the grateful Mark Cueto, who showed good awareness to dot down. Goode converted to make it 13-21, and continue his impressive display, which showcased his controlling boot and his new ‘slim-line' physique, which I here define liberally.

A Goode penalty followed in a period where South Africa failed to threaten but England failed to capitalise, struggling to find cohesion in the backs or power in the pack. Andy Robinson, in a display of tactical nous by which many are still baffled two days hence, then brought on a swathe of substitutions. Chris Jones, a replacement for Ben Kay, made a burst through midfield and offloaded beautifully to set up an English drive down the left flank. Forward after forward ploughed mercilessly into the South African ranks as England crept closer to the line and it was left to Vickery to finally burrow over from close range.

Jake White was left to rue his side's mistakes, and is now under enormous pressure to get a win next weekend in the 2 nd Test, and his post-match mood differed vastly from that of Robinson. But this is no time to pop the champagne corks. England are now back where we were a year ago when what victories were garnered were merely placatory, and celebration made way for continuing anxiety.

What hope there is from a narrow home win over a depleted and off-colour South African side can mostly be found on Phil Vickery's face. Looking into the man's eyes on Saturday one could see a quiet but fearsome determination, and a self-generated belief, far from the hollow and naïve pseudo-confidence we have seen from Robinson and Corry for too long. It may be that Vickery has a large hole to fill in this team. While his form is not at its best after a long injury lay-off, he imbued a belief in England late on that bares a contrast with his rivals that is too stark to ignore. The looks of careless bemusement found on the face of the incumbent tight-head Julian White and the callow, rabbit-in-the-headlights gestures from our captain could be images of the past if the Wasps prop maintains form and fitness. Removing deadwood is not a particularly glamorous task, but then Vickery has never been one for the limelight anyway.

There stands, perhaps, the light at the end of what remains a cavernous and very dark tunnel. One can only hope that this solitary tick in the ‘W' column will let England off the leash in terms of selection. Having learned nothing about our back row this Autumn, something must be done quickly. Worsley tackled well, and even Corry worked hard and uncharacteristically fast at the breakdown in his best England game for some time, but there was not a ball-carrier in sight. That job was left to Sheridan and Vickery. England 's midfield remains as congested as ever with most of the pack littering and loitering like nobody's business. It is plausible that John Wells is so exasperated by his job that his hair has turned as white as Brian Ashton's leading to considerable confusion on the training pitch, but it's unlikely. If the two of them, with Robinson, can not separate their pack from their backs then I daren't think how much more stodgy dross we will have to endure.

As usual, the fall-out from this game can not be observed or measured until the team is selected for the next one, which will be a tougher encounter against a wounded Bokke. The RFU and PRL have combined to offer Joe Public a veritable Pilantir by releasing whoever Robinson desires from club duty, but should the performance fail to improve from this relieving but unsatisfying victory, then it will surely be all change and about face for the VI Nations next year.

England: (6) 23
Tries: Cueto, Vickery
Cons: Goode 2
Pens: Hodgson 2, Goode

South Africa: (13) 21
Tries: De Villiers, Ndungane
Con: James
Pens: James 2
Drop: Steyn

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