GALLERY: Springboks take the win against England

The nail-biting affair between the Springboks and England played off in front of a 55 000 plus crowd over the weekend in Johannesburg having the Boks just getting their nose in front winning 42-39.

After the first 17 minutes into the first half on June 9 at Emirates Airlines Park, England moved up quickly to lead by 24-3 and a damper was placed on the enthusiastic local sides fans.

But then Springbok captain Siya Kolisa and the more experienced players in the team came together behind the Boks try line and decide to put together the most spectacular comeback in the history of Springbok rugby to lead at the break by 27-24.

“We got together and decided to take control of our play and take England on,” said Kolisi on his first test as the Springbok captain.

The character shown by a team full of inexperienced players and some tactical changes on the field were two of the main reasons Rassie Erasmus felt the Springboks managed to overturn a significant deficit to beat England by 42-39 in the opening test of the Castle Lager Incoming Series in Johannesburg.

England started with a bang and raced to a 24-3 lead in the opening quarter, thanks to three converted tries and a penalty goal, but SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said they made a few tactical adjustments, which started the comeback.

By the break, the Boks were ahead by 27-24 after a brace of tries by Sbu Nkosi, who was on debut for South Africa, as well as Willie le Roux and Faf de Klerk, both of whom were back in green and gold for the first time since 2016.

Aphiwe Dyantyi, also on debut, scored in the second half, and Handré Pollard added four conversions and three penalty goals for a personal haul of 17 points.

“It certainly wasn’t the start we wanted in our first test at home and I was worried because we had a lot of young players against a very experienced England side,” said Erasmus.

“It certainly could’ve gone from bad to worse, but credit to Siya (Kolisi), Duane (Vermeulen), Beast (Mtawarira) and Handré (Pollard), our senior players, for getting us back on track. Still, we only scraped through in the end and we made too many errors, so there is a lot for us to work on.

Joy to the #Springboks bench as Faf de Klerk, Sibusiso Nkosi (2), Willie Le Roux & Aphiwe Dyantyi dotted-down while Handre Pollard kicked 17 points in a 42-39 win! pic.twitter.com/3UuWvXPvBj

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

“When we managed to keep the ball, England was under the same stress we were early in the game. I’m proud of the guys – they showed character and it’s something we can take forward.”

Kolisi said: “I was very nervous as we didn’t expect to have such a tough time early in the game, but we have guys who had been in situations like that before.

“Credit to the new caps, because they didn’t panic and showed they just wanted to play, so we decided to take control of the game and it worked.

“Everything came together for us, the nerves were gone, we managed to get into sync and do those things that we know we can do well. We obviously would have wanted to start better today, but the character the guys showed was amazing.”

Erasmus said he expected England to kick more, and they were a bit surprised when the visitors attacked the wide channels with relative ease.

“It was a tactical mistake on my part, but as soon as we realised we needed more width on defence, and the players adapted on the field, things started going our way,” said Erasmus, who admitted that the Boks will have to make a number of “brave decisions” in the next couple of months.

It started spectacular for new Bok captain, Siya Kolisi and after 80 minutes of drama, it ended in 42-39 win #Boks pic.twitter.com/kHJJqqy0bY

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

“When you have such a big number of players with very few test caps, a lot of work will have to be done,” said Erasmus.

“If we had lost, it would’ve created doubt, but it will be a bit easier now to get consistency in selection. Still, we will have to try a few things next week and we will have to make big calls going forward, which probably means we’ll lose some matches, but we have to get players exposed to test rugby and see if they have what it takes to make it at this level.

The Springboks scored a hard-fought 42-39 win over England in the first of three test matches in the @CastleLagerSA incoming Series. well done to both teams for a great match. pic.twitter.com/mpg7uZAhkv

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

“Our replacements all went to the USA last week and I expected them to run out of steam a bit after some time, but all of them made a big impact.

“There were some great individual performances, but we still made too many unnecessary errors and we have a lot to work on. Looking back, we probably got out of jail free today, but just as they could have put us away, we could have put them away.

“Next week’s test in Bloemfontein will be massive.”

Smiles all around as Aphiwe Dyanthi gets his first in the Green and Gold. Boks lead 39-27 with 13 mins left pic.twitter.com/UMrmC5igNK

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

The steady boot of Handre Pollard and first test try for Aphiwe Dyanthi amongst the highlights in the 42-39 win by the #Springboks pic.twitter.com/XOtLotX7Ue

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

It was a good 55610 of you enjoying yourselves out there today. Thank you for attending! #Springbokgameday pic.twitter.com/QLFewvnVvg

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

And that's a wrap from Emirates Airline Park on #Springbokgameday – we hope you enjoyed the victory and our coverage of what turned out to be an epic Test. Well done to Rassie, Siya, the three new caps and all the Boks – you certainly made us proud! pic.twitter.com/YRlOxmWHHe

— Springboks (@Springboks) June 9, 2018

For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.

Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za

Add us on WhatsApp today! Comaro Chronicle: 079 427 8074 and Southern Courier: 079 404 5789.