England v South Africa 

Investec Challenge Autumn International

 20/11/04 

England Sale Away on the Crest of the Rainbow Nation!

Twickenham photo copyright of Kath

England's Head Coach Andy Robinson watched his New England side Sale away within minutes of the opening of this game!   

On a wet and bitterly cold day at Twickenham, England showed their strength in depth and at last stepped up and performed like true World Cup Champions.  It was one of those rare days at Twickenham, when you could see the steam coming off the pack, and the breath of the players huffing and puffing in the cold air. 

The Tri Nations Champions South Africa worked very hard to live with England's pace but were unable to score a try until late into the second half after England took their foot of the pedal for just a split second.

The Investec Challenge Man of the Match was Charlie Hodgson.  What a wonderful performance Charlie put in today, settling scores with those who doubted his ability to live at the highest level.  Charlie has set down his marker and wants that number ten position for England and to my mind he deserves it on his performance today - kicking, score trying and drop goals, what more can you ask for.  Well just one thing please Charlie, I still would like to see him clear the ball at a quicker pace, he is still in danger of charge down.  However, one thing is for sure,Jonny will need to work hard to get his place back and I am sure he will realise this after Charlie's performance in the match today.  It must be remembered, Charlie has also suffered injury and heartache in the past and let us not forget he would have gone to the World Cup if he had not been injured - So well done Charlie this is your moment enjoy it, you were a star today.

However, having said all of that, my true men of the match were the forwards and pack, they were fantastic Martin Corry was a revelation and Lewis Moody I felt back to his best and Rowntree - well what can you say about this man, other than true grit - his pass whilst lying on the ground after being tackled was just amazing.  Definitely Men of the Match award to the Pack!

England got off to 3 point penalty start within a minute and half, South Africa came back in the12th minute with a penalty of their own.  Then superb converted try by Charlie Hodgson underneath the posts in the 16th minute.  And then the crowd got involved and almost all of the  75,000 crowd were singing 'Swing Low'.   England's defensive line was excellent just a couple of glitches, our line out still needs to be worked on and then in the 25min England on the attack again starting with Charlie, then a wonderful run by Lewsey and finally a kick over to the far end of the field by Henry Paul to Mark Cueto - Mark had been screaming for the ball, nobody marking him, he caught it and went over for the try and Twickenham went WILD - and again Swing Low rang out around the ground. England and South Africa traded penalties and went in at the end of the first half  England 20 - South Africa 6

Second Half:  England came out with new strip, continuing the mental process set by the previous Head Coach of - We start again from scratch, forget what we scored in the first half - we start again with  0 v 0 points.  The second half started a bit jittery but as I watched, It appeared that England, this New England team seemed to tick and I mean tick.  They stared to look very strong, to look good, very good, to look like World Champions at one moment I actually forgot all the new personnel on the field and thought YES, YES this is our strength in depth!  This New England in that second half had arrived they were fantastic.    England made a number of changes Harry Ellis coming on for his first cap, Kay, Greenwood and Hazell also coming on.  South Africa had lost shape and pattern to their game and apart from England falling asleep for just a second allowing South Africa in to score a try late on, South Africa were well beaten.

Final Score England 32 v South Africa 16

This was the real test and England passed with a Distinction plus some players got stars Hodgson, Cueto, Corry, Moody in fact a overall everyone played as a team - just as it should be.  Well done England and roll on Australia!

AND THIS WAS A YEAR AGO - England v South Africa  in Perth

Photo copyright of Goughie

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon