A 73rd-minute Owen Farrell penalty gave England a narrow 12-11 victory over South Africa in a hard-fought encounter at Twickenham on Saturday.
England will have the psychological momentum going into the World Cup next year with this slender victory, safe in the knowledge they have emerged victorious on the previous two of the four meetings played between the sides this year.
It was a cagey stop-start affair, which didn't make for the most entertaining viewing. Both sides made too many mistakes for the match to live up to its billing.
Handre Pollard gave the Boks an early five-minute lead from the tee after the English were caught offside.
Ten minutes later, the Boks were applying pressure and winning penalty after penalty, which forced referee Angus Gardner's hand to yellow-carding Maro Itoje. The Springboks were using the driving maul to great effect, making ground every time they deployed the tactic.
Indeed, South Africa were enjoying the majority of the possession and territory, but were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage and would kick themselves for that. Instead, Owen Farrell responded for the hosts with a well-struck penalty to level matters on the scoreboard as Itoje returned to the field moments later.
The Boks continued to do all of the attacking and were controlling the game, but were still unable to affect the scoreboard. However, that all changed in the 32nd minute when they got what would ultimately prove to be the game's only try. It started with a Damian de Allende mini-break before brilliant hands between Aphiwe Dyantyi and Warren Whiteley released Sbu Nkosi, who finished clinically in the right-hand corner.
Farrell cut the deficit to two when his three-pointer sailed between the posts three minutes before the half-time break with no further points scored until the interval. If England were going to change the course of the match, they would need to come up with more than the aimless hanging kicks they were raining down on the Bok back three, who were dealing comfortably with the aerial bombardment.
The pressure the Boks were exerting on the English scrum precipitated Eddie Jones in to making changes in the front-row, replacing Alec Hepburn with Ben Moon for his international debut at the age of 29.
Malcolm Marx was having a shocker in terms of his line-out throwing and this was one of the factors in the Springboks not being able to extend their lead as well as a host of handling errors.
Ten minutes in to the second-half, England took the lead through the monster boot of Elliot Daly — the England full-back launching a penalty between the poles from just outside his own half — after the Boks gave away a silly penalty.
England were coming into the game more after a torrid first-half and getting more rhythm on attack as the match headed in to the final quarter. But with 13 minutes to go, Pollard put the Boks back into the lead with a long distance penalty.
However, in the 72nd minute, the hosts won a rare scrum penalty as their replacement tighthead Harry Williams put pressure on Springbok replacement Thomas du Toit, who conceded the advantage. Farrell made no mistake with the three-pointer to edge England back in front by a point at 12-11.
In the end Farrell's last-gasp penalty and Pollard's miss from distance would see the home side hold on for a morale-boosting Test victory over one of their contenders for the World Cup next year.
The scorers:
For England:
Pens: Farrell 3, Daly
Yellow Card: Itoje
For South Africa:
Try: Nkosi
Pens: Pollard 2
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell (cc), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Brad Shields, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dylan Hartley (cc), 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Chris Ashton
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Lood de Jager, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 André Esterhuizen.
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jerome Garces (France), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
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