Gallant England cruelly denied by Boks

THIS was a semi-final which brought the cruellest cut of all when a courageous, battling England performance ended in a one-point defeat by South Africa due to a booming Handre Pollard penalty two minutes from time

- NICK CAIN

The irony was that the pressure point penalty from 50 metres from a crabbing, under pressure England scrum, did not tell anything like the full story of a match in which this side had the Springboks on the ropes for long periods.

In fact, the South Africans only managed to break the red rose chokehold in the last 12 minutes, because revenge is a huge motivator, and this England side had plenty to avenge.

It has been four long, painful years for England rugby since Eddie Jones’ side were they were blitzed by South Africa in the 2019 World Cup final, and the fact that 10 of Steve Borthwick’s starting 15 for this semi-final against the Springboks were silver medallists that day spoke volumes for the motivation of this team.

If they are honest, England have mostly been a poor side in the intervening four years – and there has not been a great deal in this World Cup to get excited about despite their unbeaten record in the tournament.

Make no mistake there was plenty to cheer here, and they were only thwarted when the South Africans were re-energised just enough by their bench to pull the match out of the fire.

The telling blow was struck on 68 minutes, when, with the Springboks trailing 15-6, a charge from a five metre line-out saw Faf de Klerk’s pass find their giant bench lock RG Snyman.

England did their best to drag him down, but the big man stayed on his feet long enough to twist over for the only try of the match, and with Pollard converting it was 15-13, and on a knife edge. And when Pollard had the chance for one last strike he proved his class, and his cool, to nail it.