South Africa produced a commanding second-half performance to hammer England 55-22 in the second Test in Pretoria on Saturday.
The hosts, 58-10 winners in Bloemfontein a week ago, battled to find their rhythm in the first period and despite scoring two tries trailed 17-19 at halftime with the boot of Jonny Wilkinson doing most damage.
South Africa overturned that score in dramatic fashion, however, scoring a further six tries in the second half to leave England shell-shocked.
Northern Bulls heroes Bryan Habana and Pierre Spies both scored two tries on their home ground, while Percy Montgomery finished with 18 points to his name.
It was a scrappy affair, with both teams guilty of making numerous handling errors, while both struggled to assert dominance in the set pieces.
Whereas the Springboks looked to play an expansive game, putting the ball through the hands at the back, the visitors opted rather to use the boot.
They also strangled the home side up front, forcing the Boks to give away far too many penalties than coach Jake White would have liked.
The Boks though enjoyed the majority of ball in the early exchanges, but their poor handling and some good tackling by the English prevented the home side from scoring any tries in the opening quarter.
Montgomery and Wilkinson exchanged penalties inside 10 minutes, but for the next quarter hour neither side came close to putting points on the board. While the Boks saw most of the ball, their inability to maintain it at the scrums, where they gave away several penalties, and lineouts, meant they were always under pressure against a spirited and determined England outfit.
The Boks’ first try came in the 23rd minute when scrumhalf Ricky Januarie kicked the ball into space behind the England forwards and, fortunately for him, the ball bounced perfectly to allow him to gather and dive over.
Montgomery added the extras to put the home side 10-3 up.
Wilkinson quickly reduced the deficit to just four points with his second penalty, but on the half hour the Boks edged further ahead through Schalk Burger’s converted try after a good drive towards the line by the home side’s pack.
With half an hour to go in the first period, the Boks were 17-6 up and well in control, but the English pounced on all the home side’s errors, winning a string of penalties, to fight their way back into the contest.
Wilkinson added six more points with the boot before wing Dan Scarbrough scored under the posts after being gifted the ball by Pierre Spies, who seemingly thought the Englishman was wearing a green jersey.
Wilkinson converted the try to give his side an unlikely 19-17 lead at the break.
Any hopes of a shock win for the tourists were quickly erased as Bakkies Botha and Spies — who broke through four tackles on his way to the line — scored excellent tries to push the home side into a 29-22 lead, with the visitors’ only points coming from a Wilkinson penalty.
Bryan Habana then scored an intercept try which was followed by a Montgomery touchdown and a second for Habana — another long-range effort — to put the Boks into a commanding position.
Spies then crossed late in the game to give the Boks a 55-22 victory. – Sapa-AFP