Robinson pulls level in "sack race" against White
South Africa bought their beleaguered coach some breathing space by securing a gritty 25-14 victory over England on Saturday, with four drop-goals from Andre Pretorius handing the visitors their first win at Twickenham since 1997.
Jake White will enjoy the beers tonight -- and he will even be happy to foot the bill. His troops showed the tenacity to fight back to win after being 14-3 down after just 30 minutes.
White's counterpart, Andy Robinson, will be drinking for different reasons. A bright start from the home side descended into pitiful pap -- there was no inspiration, direction or vision from a side that conquered the world just three years ago. Heads are sure to roll.
The sight of England players looking on helplessly as drop-goal after drop-goal sailed over their heads will be the defining image of Robinson's woeful month. The defining sound will be the boos that reverberated around Twickenham in the wake of defeat to Argentina and, again, today.
Robinson said his side had lost to "a great team", but that's also pretty misdirected. South Africa did play with a great deal of heart, keeping their hosts off the scoresheet for a full 51 minutes, but the truth is that their execution and basic skills were as poor as England's.
White now has a little ammunition when he faces the music at next week's President's Council meeting, but the "sack race" between White and Robinson looks to be heading for a dead-heat. South Africa's gameplan appeared to centre, in its entirety, on dropping for goal whenever possible. Sometimes they dropped for goal when it was nigh on impossible. That is not a hallmark of "a great team".
Still, there was something morbidly fascinating about this game. Whilst other recent Tests have been diluted by player rotation and "RWC development", this was a primal, bare-knuckled encounter between two teams that needed to win at all costs.
After last week's loss, the pressure was squarely on South Africa's shoulders at the start of this game and they duly made a nervous start.
They proved to be perfect guests, gifting their hosts plenty of ball by conceding five penalties in the first ten minutes.
South African mistakes buoyed English spirits and they began the game with a confidence beyond their woeful track record.
Andy Goode opened the scoring with a goal after Bryan Habana conceded a penalty for holding back a support runner.
The heavyweight fly-half soon added another after Peter Richards put the Boks on the back-foot with a fine break around the ragged edge of a ruck on the green 22.
So far so good for the locals, but Wynand Olivier then responded with a fine break of his own, putting Pretorius within range of the sticks and the fly-half duly cocked an impromptu hoof to open South Africa's account with his first drop-goal.
The tourists then drew another lungful of air through the whistle of referee Alan Lewis -- this time for killing the ball -- and Goode slotted a long-distance goal.
England were now warming to the task at hand and each Englishman seemed to grow an inch or two after Tom Palmer stole a line-out in South Africa's half.
A skew drop-goal attempt from Goode was all England managed from the ensuing attack, but the locals began to sense that opportunities were knocking in two areas: in the tight and on South Africa's left wing where Habana was having trouble with England's big men.
Last week England failed to poke at South Africa's weaker areas but they showed more intelligence this week -- if only for the first 30 minutes.
And so it was that the diminutive Habana was soon staring skyward, trying to pick out Goode's crossfield kick from against the clear sky above Twickenham.
Josh Lewsey and Ben Cohen both climbed above the startled speedster and the ball was knocked back into the path of the energetic Mathew Tait. The centre was brought down short but Mark Cueto was on hand to poach another short-range try.
The grounding looked suspect but Lewis was confident enough to award the try without help from the video room; Goode missed the acutely angled conversion.
Pat Sanderson then undid some good work by spilling his catch at the restart and conceding a penalty as he tried to right his wrongs. Pretorius goaled.
The error heralded a shaky ten minutes for England, ten minutes that saw them cough up their comfortable lead and ultimately the game.
South Africa sensed England's sudden insecurity and they soon had Habana over the line, only to be denied by some good crisis management from Cohen.
Phil Vickery then showed remarkable suppleness for a big man, wriggling under Jean de Villiers to prevent a try.
But there was no stopping CJ van der Linde when he joined the line moments later, crashing through Lewsey to score in the dying moments of the half. Pretorius secured the improbable lead by landing the conversion as South African flags began to flutter around the ground.
Robinson would have tried to rouse his troops during the break but symptoms of their sudden attack of sleeping sickness were still evident as they took to the pitch for the second half.
A bullocking run from Danie Rossouw soon put Pretorius within sight of the sticks and he duly landed his second drop-goal.
The tsetse flies then bit the Boks and they began coughing up penalties with abandon. But Goode was unable to unwrap the gifts as three long-range shots at goal fell short.
Robinson turned to his bench and the introduction of the likes of Lewis Moody and Shaun Perry added a little momentum to England's flagging game, but simply not enough.
Another crossfield kick picked out Cueto but he failed to hang on to the ball. It was not the only attacking chance to go a begging -- England now had the lion's share of possession but were let down by poor passing and a lack of a coherent plan.
South Africa were happy to absorb the pressure and prospered from English mistakes, of which there were many, and Pretorius sealed the deal with his pinpoint kicking to leave England defeated and deflated.
Man of the match: Francois Steyn showed poise beyond his tender years, Peter Richards kept South Africa's defence guessing and Joe Worsley got through heaps of defensive work. CJ van der Linde deserves a pat on the back for his many contributions, as does Ricky Januarie who directed operations with aplomb. But our man of the match is Juan Smith who presented a constant threat in attack and was immovable in defence. He found more gaps in this game than the England's backline did during the whole month of November.
Moment of the match: Andre Pretorius's four drop-goals will live long in the memory, but this game will be remembered as the day that England's fans literally abandoned their team, trudging out before the final whistle had sounded. Will they ever come back? Not unless radical steps are taken to fix their team.
Villain of the match: No real argy-bargy, so we'll pass this hideous gong to referee Alan Lewis. The famously dapper ref requested a towel when he lost his boot. Why? He needed to keep his bottom off the soggy tuff!
The scorers:
England:
Tries: Cueto
Pens: Goode 3
South Africa:
Tries: Van der Linde
Con: Pretorius
Pens: Pretorius 2
Drop: Pretorius 4
The teams:
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Peter Richards, 8 Martin Corry (captain), 7 Pat Sanderson, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Chris Jones, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Julian White, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Phil Vickery
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Lewis Moody, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mark van Gisbergen.
South Africa: 15 Francois Steyn, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10, Andre Pretorius, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Danie Rossouw, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Kabamba Floors, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 CJ van der Linde.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17, Deon Carstens, 18, Albert van den Berg, 19 Gerrie Britz, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Jaco Pretorius, 22 Bevin Fortuin.
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges: Nigel Owen (Wales), Federico Cuesta (Argentina)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)
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