Springboks v England - Tale of the tape

SPOTLIGHT: The Springboks will kick off their Nations Championship campaign against England at Ellis Park on Saturday, and while making a statement in the new biennial competition alone should be the fuel going into the weekend, a win over the world champion Boks will also drive the English after four straight defeats.

The teams go into their Nations Championship opener in very different form.

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While South Africa won their last five games, with victories over the Barbarians, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and France, England won just one of their last five fixtures, a 48-7 victory over Wales, while they suffered defeats against France, Italy, Ireland, and Scotland.

The Boks have also beaten England on rugby’s biggest stage, repeatedly.

At the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the Boks pulled off a great escape to edge England in the semifinal in France, while they handed Eddie Jones’ crew a record defeat in the 2019 Final in Japan.

The 20-point winning margin is the joint-second largest in a World Cup Final. And then there was that 2007 event…

The Boks have won 29 of their 47 matches against England, while two have resulted in a draw. England have also won in Johannesburg just once.

With all that history between these two sides, we look at the past five meetings between South Africa and England and what was key in those encounters.

November 16, 2024 (Twickenham) – England 20-29 South Africa

Cheslin Kolbe was the star of the show as South Africa came out on top after a pulsating first half saw England trail by just two points (17-19) at the break.

Five tries were scored before the half-hour mark, and England, who scored first, reclaimed the lead via a Marcus Smith penalty conversion (20-19) in the third quarter.

Kolbe, however, had other plans as he grabbed his second try thereafter while Handre Pollard added a penalty kick to hand the hosts their fifth consecutive loss.

October 21, 2023 (Stade de France) – England 15-16 South Africa

Owen Farrell slotted four penalties in the first half for a 12-6 lead for Steve Borthwick’s team, while Manie Libbok and Pollard contributed three points each in the opening 40.

The pressure from England necessitated drastic intervention as the Boks made wholesale changes early on.

Farrell extended England’s lead to 15-6 with a drop goal in the 53rd minute, but the Bok bench’s increasing influence paid off when replacement lock RG Snyman barged over in the 69th minute to slash the opposition’s lead to just two points.

Another scrum penalty with two minutes to fulltime allowed Pollard to put the nail in England’s coffin and avoid a titanic upset in Saint-Denis.

November 26, 2022 (Twickenham) – England 13-27 South Africa

Despite being without a number of regulars, including a specialist goal-kicker as the match fell outside of the international Test window and a red card to first-class prop Thomas du Toit, the South Africans won their first Test at Twickenham in eight years.

When Du Toit left the field with 20 minutes to go while the Boks were 20-6 ahead, the English might have dreamt of orchestrating a fightback like the one that saw them draw with New Zealand a week before after trailing by 19 points, but their pack stood no chance against the Springboks’ scrum and maul.

November 20, 2021 (Twickenham) – England 27-26 South Africa

The Roses had revenge on the brain after their World Cup Final beating by the Boks exactly two years prior, and they got it courtesy of a decisive penalty by Smith in the 79th minute.

The hosts were full of vigour as they soared to a 17-6 lead by the end of the opening quarter, and while they scored three tries, the visitors could manage but a solitary try-line visit by Makazole Mapimpi, while the majority of their other points came off Pollard’s boot, with Elton Jantjies and Frans Steyn adding a penalty kick each.

With 25 minutes remaining, the injection of the Bomb Squad had become clear as England’s scrum struggled, with Pollard connecting with the posts to take the score to 17-15.

But England, the better side on the day, managed to hold on despite the South Africans’ efforts.

November 2, 2019 (International Stadium) – South Africa 32-12 England

The Springboks were simply unstoppable as they claimed their record-equaling third World Cup title in Japan.

England stood no chance as the Boks not only used their key strengths to devastating effect, humiliating them at the set-pieces and in the physical exchanges, but also dazzled on attack to score two tries – the first time ever they had scored a try in a World Cup Final.

The 20-point victory is the joint second-biggest in a Final, while the result also made South Africa the only team to boast a perfect World Cup Final record (at that stage, the triumph in Japan secured them their third title in three finals). England, on the other hand, became the team to lose the most World Cup finals, three.

The victory also meant that South Africa became the first country to lose a pool game and go on to win the World Cup.