Ken Borland

It took a moment of brilliance from wing JP Pietersen for South Africa to avoid the embarrassment of squandering a 28-10 lead and lose the second Test against England at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Springboks triumphed 36-27 after Pietersen’s 73^rd minute try – he began the move with a mazy run, bumping off defenders, from his own half – pulled them clear, but England deserve huge credit for their remarkable comeback.

In the first half, they were absolutely hammered up front by the power and ferocity of the Springbok ball-carriers, but they fronted up manfully in the second half and, with the home side disrupted by unfortunate injuries, they came roaring back.

“It was a golden moment for me, I played some of my best rugby tonight, both on attack and defence,” Pietersen said. “But in the second half we dropped our concentration and we had to scramble to contain some line breaks. That’s when work-rate comes first for your team, you need to help when they’re getting tired.”

It was little short of assault in the first half as the Springboks dominated the collisions, earning three tries.

“We had a good first half, we wanted speed on the ball and to run hard, to get momentum,” eighthman Pierre Spies said.

“We were much more clinical at the rucks, especially in the first half, and we were better, more accurate, at the breakdown.”

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer praised new captain Jean de Villiers for keeping control of a tense situation in the second half.

“We learnt a lot out there, panic could have set in but Jean did really well. I would rather have this sort of win than 80 minutes of SuperRugby and then the team lose in this sort of situation later on,” Meyer said.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said England should be proud of their “guts and commitment” after the Springboks withstood a fierce second-half comeback to win the second Test 36-27 and clinch the series at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Springboks used their big ball-carriers to batter England in the first half, stretching their lead to 28-10 early in the second half, before the visitors fought back to within four points at 31-27. It took an inspired try by wing JP Pietersen to seal victory for the South Africans.

“England can be really proud of their performance, especially at altitude. I don’t want to take anything away from them, they always come back. You can’t coach guts and commitment and in the Six Nations you could see England had lots of energy. They’re a young team and they will make mistakes, but they never say die and I knew we would really battle against them,” Meyer told a news conference after the test.

Meyer said part of the Springboks’ second-half fade was due to their set-pieces being disrupted by injuries. Tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis, lock Juandre Kruger and flank Willem Alberts all left the field in the second half.

“The first half was excellent, we played some great bits of rugby, but in the second half we lost momentum because of poor set-pieces.”

England coach Stuart Lancaster said that despite the defeat, the performance showed he had invested in the right players.

“I was delighted with the attitude in the second half, after we were definitely hanging on by our fingernails in the first half, and the fact that frustration was the over-riding emotion afterwards is a good thing. There was some pride mixed in there because of the comeback, but no sense of ‘good job, we almost won’.

“Some areas were better tonight and we can really take some positives out of here and we also learnt more about the players. The scrum began to take control and when we moved the ball, we caused their defences some trouble.

“More experience will give these guys a huge amount, especially a sense of how to manage the game in tense situations,” Lancaster said.

“I guarantee this team has another game left in them and they’ll be eager to have another crack in Port Elizabeth, that’s the good thing about a three-Test series.”

Meyer said the hard-fought win, after seemingly being in firm control, was a good lesson for his team, which is rebuilding after losing the core of two World Cup sides.

“We played really well in the first half, we wanted to up the tempo, but you have to grind out Test rugby, it’s not SuperRugby where you’re just going to score a lot of tries.

“We learnt a lot out there, panic could have set in but Jean de Villiers [captain] did really well. I would rather have this sort of win than 80 minutes of SuperRugby and then the team lose in this sort of situation later on,” the former Bulls coach said.

Pietersen said his match-winning try, after he ended the move he started by bumping off defenders on a mazy run from his own half, was one of the highlights of his 44-Test career.

“It was a golden moment for me, I played some of my best rugby tonight, both on attack and defence,” Pietersen said.

Having scored in the 73rd minute, Pietersen’s work was not done yet as he also had to tackle a rampaging Thomas Waldrom, the 111kg replacement loose forward, into touch close to the tryline in the dying moments.

“Credit to South Africa and to Heyneke Meyer: they’re a pretty formidable team and they’re playing as one unit, you can see how cohesive they are. They run hard at you, narrow you and then they move the ball,” Lancaster said.

England play a tour match against the SA Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom, 123km from Johannesburg, on Tuesday night before relocating to the south-eastern coastal city of Port Elizabeth for the third and final Test next Saturday.

South Africa wing JP Pietersen started and ended the match-winning move as the Springboks cut short a stirring England revival and won the second Test 36-27 (half-time 25-10) at Ellis Park on Saturday.

South Africa dominated the first half and had stretched their lead to 28-10 after 47 minutes before England clawed their way back to 31-27 down with 15 minutes remaining. But their comeback was truncated when Pietersen set off from his own half on a mazy run, bumping off defenders, and putting the Springboks on attack. After several phases and a strong drive by eighthman Pierre Spies, the ball went quickly wide for Pietersen to dive over for the match-winning try.

The Springbok forwards had pounded England with their direct, powerful running in the first half, earning tries for bruising flank Willem Alberts, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and scrumhalf Francois Hougaard.

South Africa led 22-3 after the first quarter and, facing the sternest examination at a daunting Highveld venue, England showed their character by fighting back through two tries by scrumhalf Ben Youngs and one by flyhalf Toby Flood, who also scored three conversions and two penalties in a faultless goal-kicking display.

But the single moment of magic of Pietersen denied England the reward of a sensational comeback victory.

South Africa’s physical dominance was obvious from the outset as they held the ball through 12 phases after the kickoff, bashing their way to within a couple of metres from the tryline before the ball was knocked-on.

England dominated the resulting scrum, referee Alain Rolland failing to penalise the going-to-ground of the Springbok front row, and the lack of control of the ball led to it popping out, Alberts picking up and scoring the simplest of tries in the fourth minute.

The strong driving and direct running of the Springboks soon had them back on attack and Du Plessis was driven over from close range for the second try in the eighth minute.

England then showed some mettle with ball in hand as they stretched the Springbok defence, fullback Pat Lambie making a crucial tackle in the last line of defence to prevent a try, but the visitors did earn a penalty soon afterwards, which Flood kicked (3-12).

A great pass over the top from inside centre Francois Steyn to wing Pietersen, whose clever chip had England scrambling in their 22, forced Youngs to carry the ball over his own line as he could not escape from Springbok captain Jean de Villiers. From the five-metre scrum, South Africa earned a penalty, which Morne Steyn kicked in the 16th minute (15-3).

The Springboks earned a third try five minutes later after another spell of top-class driving by the forwards created a gap close to the line which scrumhalf Hougaard spotted.

England, 22-3 down, finally notched a try in the 24th minute after they were awarded a ruck penalty in midfield. The awareness of Young and wing Chris Ashton, bursting through to take the pass, created the space for Flood to run in the try, which he converted.

Morne Steyn added a well-taken drop goal in the 28th minute, but England were alive, only just, at 10-25 down at the break.

But South Africa lost some core players in the second half due to injury, most notably Alberts, who put his body on the line in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stop Youngs from scoring his first try, after Du Plessis had overthrown a lineout.

The Springboks will also be disappointed that basic mistakes crept into their game in the second half, and England were able to punish them.

Their scrum regained their pride by earning a couple of penalties, one of which was in range for Flood, and the lineout then got their rolling maul going to allow Youngs to dive over for his second try to close the gap to 22-31 with 16 minutes remaining.

Flood kicked the conversion and almost immediately followed up with a long-range penalty as England began playing with more and more confidence.

But Pietersen than came up with his game-changing run and England were left with more work still to do before next weekend’s final Test.

Scorers

South Africa – Tries: Willem Alberts, Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Hougaard, JP Pietersen. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Steyn (3). Drop goal: Steyn.

England – Tries: Toby Flood, Ben Youngs (2). Conversions: Flood (3). Penalties: Flood (2).

England go into the second Test against South Africa at Ellis Park on Saturday still trying to find a way to stop the Springboks’ big ball-carriers if they are to keep the three-match series alive.

England were bullied into submission in the second half of the first Test in Durban last weekend, losing 22-17, and the Springbok forwards, led by flank Willem Alberts, were the main perpetrators as they seized control of the advantage line.

Coach Stuart Lancaster has stressed the need for England to improve markedly, but has chosen the same pack of starting forwards, while hoping that a shuffled backline will provide more penetration.

“In selection, we had to get the balance right. We need to be defensively strong and robust enough to deal with their big ball-carriers coming around the corner and off the back of the lineout.

“In the last five minutes of the Test, when we had more ball, we did cause them some trouble and we’ll be trying to penetrate in wider channels,” Lancaster said.

Manu Tuilagi, who has shifted inside to replace the injured Brad Barritt, and Jonathan Joseph, making his first Test start, are a rookie midfield pair who are both 21, and England have also changed flyhalf, with Toby Flood coming in for Owen Farrell. Ben Foden has moved to fullback to replace the injured Mike Brown and David Strettle has been recalled on the wing.

“I want Manu to get over the advantage line, we didn’t really achieve that enough last week and I trust that Jonathan is ready having played at the highest level in the Premiership, trained consistently and had the game against the Barbarians.

“Toby can play flat, he kicks well and can move defences around, as well as defending well. He has a tremendous appetite to win, he’s ready and it’s his time,” Lancaster explained.

The Springboks have made just one, injury-enforced change to their starting line-up, with Pat Lambie replacing Zane Kirchner at fullback.

The 21-year-old is the more exciting option and Springbok captain Jean de Villiers warned that his team should be even more of a threat this weekend, with the extra time together they have had.

“Last week, the main thing was to just win and there were a lot of butterflies, including for me. We weren’t great last Saturday, there’s a helluva lot to improve, but this week, things have happened more naturally. We haven’t had to think first about what we are doing so much. It takes a while to get used to each other, but things are becoming more instinctive and it’s much easier to play when that happens.

“One week is a long time in rugby and I’ve seen the difference in training. Last week we were a side with fantastic individuals but we weren’t a team yet. We’re closer now,” De Villiers said.

The veteran centre admitted that his team will have to closely police Tuilagi, who at 112kg weighs the same as the Springboks’ loosehead prop Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira.

“England have made their backline changes due to injury, but Tuilagi is a quality player no matter where he is. At 12 he will be running in the channel where there is a bit more traffic and he won’t have as much opportunity for one-on-ones. But he will get more ball and we need to stop him,” De Villiers said.

The Springbok outside centre said Tuilagi and Joseph will also benefit from having the experienced Flood, who has been capped 47 times, inside them.

“England’s one centre is making his run-on debut while the other is still in his first year of international rugby, so Toby’s experience counts for a lot. He has a good passing game and he kicks well, so I think he’ll make a big difference. We have to make sure we keep the pressure on him and not give him time and space,” De Villiers said.

Ellis Park is one of the most daunting venues though in world rugby and the effects of altitude at 1763 metres above sea level will also be in the favour of the home team. The conditions will suit their much-vaunted kicking game and Lancaster knows his side have to stop the Springboks from building any momentum to have a chance of beating them.

“They’ve chosen the same team except for Pat Lambie, who is clearly a talented footballer and obviously poses a different threat, so I imagine they’ll use the same formula which was pretty successful last week. We have to prepare for their kicking game and put pressure on Morne Steyn [flyhalf]. When they got momentum in the second half, they had tremendous ball-carries, so we need to defend better,” Lancaster said.

Teams

South Africa – 15-Pat Lambie, 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Jean de Villiers, 12-Francois Steyn, 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Francois Hougaard, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Marcell Coetzee, 5-Juandre Kruger, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Bench: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Werner Kruger, 18-Flip van der Merwe, 19-Keegan Daniel, 20-Ruan Pienaar, 21-Wynand Olivier, 22-Bjorn Basson.
England – 15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Jonathan Joseph, 12-Manusamoa Tuilagi, 11-David Strettle, 10-Toby Flood, 9-Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7-Chris Robshaw, 6-Tom Johnson, 5-Geoff Parling, 4-Mouritz Botha, 3-Dan Cole, 2-Dylan Hartley, 1-Joe Marler. Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-Alex Corbisiero, 18-Tom Palmer, 19-Thomas Waldrom, 20-Lee Dickson, 21-Owen Farrell, 22-Alex Goode.

Referee – Alain Rolland (Ireland).