England Punish Sloppy Springboks
England took apart a horribly under-performing South Africa side to take their first autumn international 37-21, and continue their rich vein of form, conquering a Springbok side that they haven't beaten in 13 years. This was a comprehensive display from England, as tries either side of half time from Courtney Lawes and George Ford opened up a 30-9 gap that South Africa never recovered from, despite recovering slightly in the last ten minutes. In truth, the match was over the moment that Lawes crashed over, aided by some really poor defending from South Africa and some excellent footwork from Mike Brown. And sure enough, despite a couple of tries in the second half to make the scoreline more respectable for South Africa, England ran out worthy winners.
There were, as Eddie Jones will be quick to note, definite areas from improvement from England, but the truth was that on the day they were simply better than South Africa, whose defence was utterly woeful at times. England moved into an early 7-6 lead with a well-worked try for Jonny May, but from a Springbok perspective it was far too easy. England didn't have to do a whole lot to score their first try, it was just intelligent movement and simple passing, and the space opened up of its own accord.
But England's discipline and lack of power in the scrum looked to be holding them back early on, as they conceded too many penalties and realistically should have been at least 12-7 down before Farrell's penalty just before Lawes scored put England back in front 10-9. But once Lawes scored, England, who had played the better rugby anyway in the first half, never looked back and took total control of the match. The score itself was slightly sloppy, as South Africa failed to clear a long kick downfield and the ball ended up in the hands of Lawes via Mike Brown, who fumbled it backwards after some clever ground kicking, but England won't have cared, especially when Elliot Daly's thumping long kick went over on the stroke of half time to send England 20-9 up at the break.
And in the second half England started to really turn it on. Billy Vunipola was charging forward with real power, creating opportunities for teammates at the break down, and the likes of Launchbury in the second row, who was handed the man of the match gong, were picking up the pieces brilliantly. And this space creation is what allowed Ben Youngs into the game, as the scrum-half turned in a phenomenal display, creating the third and fourth tries with eloquent dummies to release first George Ford and then Owen Farrell to crash over and seal the win for England in style. Again, South Africa will ask how on earth he was able to create two tries with two simple dummies, and how the defence managed to fall for the same trick twice, but if Youngs made the Springboks look foolish, he also made himself look utterly brilliant.
England will maybe be slightly disappointed that they let South Africa close the scoreline and have the last word late on, especially as it looked as if they could have really rubbed it in the opposition's noses and gone on to score 50+, but I think that a slightly tighter scoreline better reflects the fact that England were far from perfect, as they were ill disciplined at times, lacked power in the scrum and made some horrible handling errors. One moment in the second half saw the ball travel from the middle of South Africa's half into England's 22 purely through poor passing or control from the hosts. A scoreline like this reflects that whilst England were overall excellent, and significantly better than the very patchy Springboks, they still have a long way to go. They've had a terrific year since the World Cup, but they still need to demonstrate that they're up there with the likes of Australia. They'll get that chance before this series of internationals is over, but for now, Fiji next week, a match that should be very comfortable, based on this display.
Elsewhere, briefly, Wales did just enough to see off a slightly beleaguered Argentina side. Following their demolition at the hands of Australia, it was important for Wales to get back to winning ways, and they managed to do that, but were slightly fortunate to do so as they were very underwhelming, with Argentina not much if any better. A game mostly decided by a lack of cutting edge, in the end it was a late kick from Leigh Halfpenny that had the final say on a tight, tense encounter. Wales still have a lot of work to do, but at least they're back on the horse, and this was an important win for them.
Hamilton Closes Gap In Exciting Brazil Shootout
Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix ended up being a helter-skelter race, lit up by the brilliance of Max Verstappen, and embroiled in controversy as the rain came down and the red flags went up. But the bottom line was that once again, it was Lewis Hamilton first, Nico Rosberg second, a result that means that Rosberg just needs to finish on the podium in the final race of the season at Abu Dhabi in order to claim the Championship.
And if it is Rosberg rather than Hamilton who claims the title in a week and a half, Hamilton will definitely be left with the feeling that he didn't deserve to lose, having driven out of his skin once again in Brazil, a race which was incredibly exciting and served as a reminder of what F1 is still capable of producing at its best. Ultimately whilst all of the talk about Brazil might be about the absolutely unbelievable performance of Verstappen, Hamilton was once again imperious, and once again displayed why he is probably still the best driver on the grid.
But as mentioned, it was 19 year old Verstappen who was the star of the show, with a ride of stunning proportions. He recovered from a dramatic error by his team to put him on the wrong tyres, somehow managed to survive a 190mph spin out on the main straight, dropped to 16th after having to pit again to get the right tyres back on, and then drove from 16th to 3rd in the final 16 laps. It was a drive for the history books, the kind of raw, powerhouse driving that makes Verstappen so exciting to watch. Verstappen has picked up some flack, and some penalties, for his aggressive driving style, but that aggression is part of what makes him a stunning driver and in Brazil it helped him blast his way through the grid to reach his 7th podium in 39 races (only 16 of those for Red Bull). Verstappen took wild risks, as he has done all year for Red Bull, and whilst they haven't always paid off, when they do, as they did in Brazil, he looks like one hell of a driver. If his team hadn't made a bad tactical call, he might well have won this race.
The man most frustrated though, will be race winner Hamilton, who would have seen his gap to Rosberg cut further were it not for Red Bull's error, as Verstappen probably would have ended up second, splitting the Mercedes. Had that happened, Rosberg would have had to come second in Abu Dhabi to win the title. As it is, he needs third.
And that's the bottom line from this race. Whilst as a spectacle, and as an event, it was dominated by the brilliance of Verstappen, in terms of the wider context of the Driver's Championship, it was another quiet, understated second place from Nico Rosberg. He's been a tad fortunate to finish ahead of Verstappen a couple of times in this run in, but he's been able to grind out those podium places, keep the gap to Hamilton manageable. And now Rosberg knows that if he stands on the podium in Abu Dhabi, he will do so as World Champion.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Jimmy fit for Second Test. Woakes has a niggle.
- England drew 2-2 with Spain. Positives and negatives.
- Five division plan scrapped.
- Northern Ireland hammered by Croatia. Disappointing.
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