It is now a dirty dozen games since England beat South Africa, dating back to a bygone era before David Cameron, Downton Abbey and One Direction. It is also eight years since England last lost five successive Tests, a worrying sequence regardless of the standard of opposition. That painful run will end against a disaffected Samoa this week but the final fortnight of this series is already a case of limiting the damage.
No one could ever accuse this squad of a lack of commitment or spirit, or any of the other words people use when attempting to soften the brutal truth. It is only fair to say England finished the contest relatively strongly and, for the second straight weekend, have lost by three points to one of the world’s top teams. Unfortunately, the elephant in the dressing room can be avoided no longer. Without sharper playmakers in key positions, there is only one direction in which England will be going between now and next year’s World Cup.
It would be unfair to blame Owen Farrell alone for England’s poverty-stricken performance in the first half hour but, as even he would probably concede, this was the fly-half’s least effective display in 27 Tests. The coaches swear he is fully fit but his form has dipped so markedly that George Ford’s first start for England cannot come soon enough. Someone has to breathe fresh life into the English three‑quarter line which, in terms of midfield penetration, currently has a dead parrot feel to it.
If they cannot get over the gain line more frequently, England could yet secure an unwanted hat-trick against the southern hemisphere big three by also losing to Australia on Saturday week.
The 28-31 scoreline may again imply England are getting closer but consistent success will elude them if things stay as they are. Both Farrell and another Saracen, Billy Vunipola, will win games for England again. At the moment, though, they and the scrum-half, Danny Care, are struggling to supply the tactical accuracy which every good side possess down their spine.
While the 23-year-old Farrell’s outstanding goal-kicking remains a consistent strength, along with the warrior nature which won him a place in the victorious 2013 Lions squad, England must think again. Their tight forwards are going well and there is real pace out wide but how many of Saturday’s XV did enough to install themselves as definite starters for England’s big World Cup fixtures? With 10 games to go before the tournament kicks off, the answer is five or six at best.
Apart from Mike Brown and Davey Wilson, who scored his first try for England in his 39th start, very few of the home starting XV will remember this contest with much affection. South Africa led by 20-6 after 41 minutes, thanks to Jan Serfontein’s interception of Care’s laboured pass and a smart score from Cobus Reinach, created by the lively Willie le Roux. The Springboks also competed hard at the breakdown and defended splendidly. As their impressive captain, Jean de Villiers, stressed afterwards, it is not quantity of possession which wins modern Test matches but the quality with which it is used.
It took the 45th-minute sin-binning of Victor Matfield for pulling down a maul to stir England into any kind of frenzy, Wilson and Ben Morgan scoring in rapid succession. The sight of South Africa’s seven-man pack mauling Schalk Burger over for the game’s decisive try with Matfield still absent, however, was even more remarkable and Brad Barritt’s late consolation score did little to soothe English frustration.
The only note of solace, ironically, was struck by the Springbok coach, Heyneke Meyer, who reckons his side could still meet England in next year’s final. On the evidence of the first half he was being exceptionally kind. How England could do with a debutant scrum-half like Reinach, a top-drawer talent in the making. Do they have anyone with the footballing class of Le Roux or the reliable dynamism of the Japan-based Burger? Not as long as England’s own offshore flanker Steffon Armitage remains surplus to requirements.
Either way there is a case this week for starting Morgan and James Haskell against Samoa and handing the captaincy to Tom Wood, with Saracens’ Will Fraser on the bench. England will need Chris Robshaw at his sharpest against the Wallabies and could do with experimenting with another captain should injury ever befall Robshaw.
In that respect the other leading candidate, Dylan Hartley, chose an untimely moment to add another card to his Twickenham collection. Gnarled old pros argued his unsightly stamp on Duane Vermeulen’s knee joint was not overly serious but, having seen New Zealand’s Dane Coles sent to the sin-bin for kicking the previous week, the Northampton hooker should have been watching his step more closely.
Had Hartley stayed on, who knows? Ford and Ben Youngs both added some zest in the final quarter and the Bath fly-half’s wait to overtake Farrell is almost over. Alongside him Lancaster appears to have three options – retain Kyle Eastmond and the hard-working Brad Barritt, revert to the Six Nations duo of Billy Twelvetrees and the fit-again Luther Burrell or opt for the slick Bath trio of Ford, Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph. The last course of action, in the continuing absence of Manu Tuilagi, would at least involve this season’s best club combination. If England still aspire to a high-tempo game, it is probably the way to go.
It all depends how Lancaster feels once he has reviewed his seventh defeat in his last 11 Tests in charge. He has been loyal to a fault and endured bad luck with injuries but a dash of ruthlessness is now needed.
Joe Schmidt’s Ireland, shrewdly marshalled by the fly-half, Jonny Sexton, and with a new centre pairing, have just beaten South Africa. Anyone who saw Colin Slade play fly-half for the Barbarians against Australia knows New Zealand’s fourth-choice No10 would walk into England’s starting XV. All is not yet lost but the past fortnight has not been remotely rose-scented.
England Brown; Watson, Barritt, Eastmond, May; Farrell (Ford, 64), Care (B Youngs, 64): Marler (Mullan, 66), Hartley (Webber, 70), Wilson (Brookes, 72), Attwood (Kruis, 66), Lawes, Wood, Robshaw (capt), B Vunipola (Morgan, 43).
Tries Wilson, Morgan, Barritt. Cons Farrell 2. Pens Farrell 2, Ford.
Sin-bin Hartley, 60.
South Africa Le Roux; Pietersen, Serfontein, De Villiers (capt), Habana; Lambie, Reinach; Mtawarira (Nyakane, 74), Strauss (B du Plessis, 60), J du Plessis, (Oosthuizen, 64), Etzebeth (Botha, 64), Matfield, Coetzee, Burger, (Mohoje, 77), Vermeulen.
Tries Serfontein, Reinach, Burger. Cons Lambie 2. Pens Lambie 3. Drop goal Lambie.
Sin-bin Matfield, 44.
Referee S Walsh (Aus). Att 82,125.
