England vs South Africa - Minute by Minute

[Puja]

You know you love these!

Minute 1: South Africa kick off and we appear completely taken aback. There's half a pod and no jumper, but thankfully Slade takes it above his head and we secure the ball. Lawes carries the next phase up, putting in a lovely step to leave De Jager flat on his face and we set up the first caterpillar. Youngs slices the box kick too short and South Africa get the ball back. They go backwards in the face of our defence for a couple of phases before Pollard puts up the high bomb towards May, who has the start of his nightmare by being beaten to the tap by Vermeulen. Thankfully Curry is there to collect the loose ball and we can finish the minute with another caterpillar.

Minute 2: Youngs's second box kick is too long, but South Africa are lucky to get away with two penalties, first for Le Roux crossing behind Nche and second for Nche then going straight off his feet to seal off the ball. Ref seems fine, so Pollard puts up a high ball on Steward that is taken without any competition. The boy who can't attack beats two and makes 9m up to halfway. Smith then shows Pollard how it's done with a beautiful high ball that May wins back. The ball is scrambled back to Smith who then puts in a beautiful cross-kick to Marchant who takes the ball on the bounce at the SA 22.

Minute 3: England recycle as Curry is there quickly to secure the ball and we spin it out for some strong forward carries by Sinckler and Itoje. Smith makes a little half-break that is ended by a probably high tackle from Etzebeth, but it's given us momentum and quick ball. Youngs draws a defender and puts in an orgasmic little grubber off the outside of his boot. It's either something Steward has called or he's read Youngs incredibly well, cause he's running at full-tilt to chase it and Le Roux does exceptionally well to take the ball back over his own line.

Minute 4: We fail to scrum. South Africa are very keen to get stuck in and give away a free-kick for an early engage, which we then choose as another scrum. Ballsy early call.

Minute 5: Rodd does Nyakane like a kipper with sneakiness. The SA 3 wants to charge in and dominate Rodd like all the prematch stuff said he would, so Rodd lets him come and drops him to the floor. Easy penalty and great skulduggery from the youngster. England kick to the corner.

[Puja]

Minute 6: Blamire's first lineout and we call well by dragging the SA jumpers to the middle and popping to Itoje who doesn't jump. Dynamic and quick maul which SA bring down, but the ref says it's a sack which... it just isn't? There's more than two from each team there and it's a clear penalty, but hey ho. Something for Erasmus to bring up in his unbiased assessment of the ref, no doubt.

We recycle very slowly and the commentator says the line "Sinckler's already been on the pitch longer than he was in the RWC final," immediately before Sinckler carries the ball head first, headbutting South African knees and then the ground as he goes. Seems fine though.

SA hold strong against hard runners, so we pass behind the next pods to Smith. The ball goes to May who steps two makes a powerful run up to 8m out. Hill then carries hard off quick ball and makes good ground - excellent carry.

Minute 7: Ball has slowed and Youngs looks like he'll pass blind, but gets a call from behind and flings a wide pass to Smith. Two more accurate wide passes and Tuilagi has a 20m run in. Unfortunately, his hamstring goes on the first step and he just about makes it in at the corner before the cover gets across.

Minute 8: Smith adds the extras with a gorgeous touchline conversion. Iceman.

Minute 9: Malins is on and everyone starts worrying about the 6:2 bench split. England take a regulation kickoff with a regulation pod and put up a regulation box kick to touch. The lineout is a sign of things to come though - Sinckler and Hill screw up the lift on Itoje who gets nowhere near Etzebeth's leap and all they accomplish is compromising the maul defence. Rodd clearly comes in at the side, but the ref waves it on and he's allowed to stay bound on and be a nuisance to SA at the back of the maul. His position disguises Jonny Hill swimming around and, as SA start to rumble, Hill latches onto the ball carrier and drags them away. SA are outraged and they've frankly got a point.

Minute 10: SA recycle and Reinach puts up the high ball on May which he takes with ease. Unfortunately, May is in a hurry and has a complete lack of peripheral vision for Hill walking back - I'm not sure if Hill actually knocks the tap kick as he goes past or May realises he's in the way and panics, but it ends up with a knock on and an attacking SA scrum. Very poor from May - there wasn't a big counter attack opportunity there and even a quick tap to try and kick long didn't need to be that quick. Take a breath, take your time, do it properly.


You can have some more later - I'm off to watch the French!

Puja

[Puja]

Sooooo, the French are a bit good, aren't they? Having been suitably terrified by them, I'm hoping I won't have a different perspective on this match.

Minute 11: Rodd once again screws Nyakane - letting him hit and hinging immediately to faceplant the South African on the floor while he's long-legged. Excellent dark arts.

Minute 12: We kick for touch and attempt to go to the front at the lineout. Unfortunately SA have read us like a book and Etzebeth makes a mess of Lawes's take. The ball bounces to Reinach, but Blamire somehow gets in there and gets the ball back before the camera sees it. I suspect that wasn't legal, but he got away with it, so it's good play.

We recycle and Underhill goes for a power carry straight through Nyakane, who unfortunately is in no mood to be carried over and utterly destroys him. We then finish the minute by Youngs putting up a box kick that is about 15cm away from being perfectly weighted, the ideal distance, and dropping infield for May to smash Kriel. Unfortunately, Kriel can just step back and let it bounce the wrong side of the touchline and we are back under pressure again.

Minute 13: SA take the lineout, spin it to the middle where Kolisi smashes it up. The ball is quick, we don't fold quickly enough, and Malins rushes up on the wrong man, leaving Le Roux and Mapimpi a 2-on-zero. Steward is up fast to shut the door, but Le Roux chips into the space he's left. May is into position quickly and is ready for any reasonable bounce, but once again it is proven that the bounce of a rugby ball *always* hates you and the ball violently changes direction twice in two bounces. May (understandably) fumbles and actually does pretty well to regather and cling on to give away the penalty. Could've been a lot worse, that.

There is a lot of unseemly pushing and shoving, mostly England being provocative dicks to make sure no quick taps were taken. Lawes gets a ticking off.

Minute 14: We get a good replay of May's face as that ball escapes his grasp and the pained grimace of frustration is only enhanced by his 1980s pornstache. Also, Pollard kicks the penalty.

Minute 15: Smith drops the restart on Le Roux and Curry is very nearly there with the tapback. SA box kick it and Steward is just about to soar majestically to take it only for Sinckler to not realise what he's doing and take him out. I think that's a lack of familiarity - Steward is coming from an awfully long way back at speed, but at Leicester, players know that's the prelude to him springing about 10m forward in the air like a startled antelope and taking the ball mid-leap. Sinckler thinks Steward's positioning means the ball's coming down a good 3m further forward than it actually is and just gets in every beggar's way.

South Africa regather and attempt to spread it wide where they have a 4-on-3, but unfortunately for them, Le Roux has had his hands surgically replaced with seal flippers and ends up spooning his pass to the ground. Itoje rips the ball from Am and May sees a gap, but his grubber hits a South African and then bounces into another South African, so we end up with the scrum for accidental offside.

[Puja]

Minute 16: Everyone fails to scrummage.

Minute 17: The Springbok pack manage to contain themelves long enough to take on England in a scrummaging contest andthe results are... not great. However, Blamire puts in a great strike and by the time Mbonambe has popped him up and Nche is driving through Sinckler, the ball is already in Youngs's hands and away. That's four scrums now where we have won the ball through just being cleverer than the SA pack. I hope it lasts for the whole game.

Slade is standing in the "Farrell" position at 10, with Marchant running a hard line and Smith floating behind and the South African defence is so very, very focussed on rushing up to hit those three that they've completely ignored Steward and Malins standing... well, not even really wide. Steward's just midfield. The Boks three-quarters have for some reason decided to charge both up and in and they get nowhere near Slade or cutting out his nice wide pass. Steward catch and passes to draw the Springbok winger and Malins has acres of space down the wing. He steps inside the cover and is dragged down, but offloads to May who makes a nice dart to take us 5m out.

SA cheat like hell on the ground and the ball is slowed. Slade goes in to ruck inspect for some reason and it leaves Steward and Malins on a 15m blindside. Youngs has a little snipe to interest Kolisi and then offloads at the perfect time to give Steward a full-tilt run at Reinach. The cover comes across, but he still manages to power through and reach out to get the ball over the line.

Phenomenal try by England, but some very odd choices in defence by South Africa

Minute 18: Lots of replays, but no action. There's a good one where you can see Slade and Itoje both getting a bit irked that Youngs hasn't gone open as they'd asked him just before they're happy that the try's scored - if they were as hated as Farrell, that'd rival the infamous one where he got annoyed at Cipriani only just not screwing up a try with an overhit kick. It's a really good finish by Steward though - Reinach puts in a solid tackle on him and then is assisted by Mapimpi and Kolisi (who just has such an engine - he made a try-saving tackle on May, got up and was there to stop Youngs's snipe and then moved on to almost stop Steward. Ridiculous). Steward has to work very hard and then show good one-armed ball control to get it down.

Minute 19: Smith slots a tricky conversion. Great work and vital points.

South Africa do another orthodox kickoff and hit Itoje's pod. I don't know why they haven't switched it again like they did at the beginning; we had real problems with that one. Caterpillar time and Youngs has finally got his eye in and puts a belting clearance up to over our 10m line.

Minute 20: South Africa play off the top of the lineout and De Allende runs over Slade, who needs to do better than that. SA go wide quickly (a more than slightly forward pass, but hey-ho) and Steward comes up to close off the overlap and this time Kriel chips into the space behind him. Clearly this is something they've been working on for this match.

May is covering well again, but this time, the rugby ball doesn't hate him and bounces three times in the same direction. However, he's so burned by before that he doesn't come onto it and instead watches it so fiercely into his hands and is so careful about taking it that he doesn't have a huge number of options by the time he has it and his kick only goes to just outside our 22.

[Puja]

Minute 21: England don't compete at this lineout and instead focus on taking out the jumper before he hits the ground. {sigh} We are our own worst enemies on occasions.

SA take the advantage to spin it wide and we are also caught narrow (Marcus Smith is leading a blitz which isn't really on), but the difference is Jonny May, who is up fast to be the extra man, but doesn't commit himself and has the fast feet to back off and let Marchant recover across on his inside and Steward come up on his outside. He has had some shit moments this match, but that was world-class. Faced with the loss of their overlap, South Africa grubber through to the corner and Malins is across to slide tackle the ball out of play. Great defence - I think Siebold is earning his money so far. We come back for the penalty.

Minute 22: Pollard kicks the penalty.

Minute 23: Ball is dropped on Le Roux again and he is almost immediately smashed. South Africa try another phase to get a better position for a kick and the two man pod both go to the floor together. Curry is immediately there to show to the ref that he coul be making a turnover if they weren't sealing off and we get the decision.

Minute 24: Replays - good tackle by Rodd for that penalty actually. Smith converts an easy penalty and we are 17-6 up.

Minute 25: South Africa once again pick out Itoje's lifting pod and it's an easy restart to take. We're using Lawes as the first carrier off these restarts and he's doing a decent job - always making metres with a powerful run and a little bit of footwork before contact. Much better plan than asking Curry to do it, as we have been.

Box kick from Youngs and May makes a great tackle and then rolls away, letting Curry win a picture perfect turnover... except the ref has pinged May for not rolling away. I'm not sure how he was meant to get further or quicker out of the way there - I think teleporting might've done it, but it's a close run thing. Shocking decision from the ref.

[Puja]

Minute 26: Pollard kicks the penalty and I'm still annoyed about it. That was appallingly bad refereeing.

Minute 27: We do the same kick off again and it just appears that we like hurting Le Roux, cause he's taking the ball and getting munched every time. Reinach then ignores all the people with their hands up, asking for the ball and passes into Nyakane's back as he jogs back into position - it's not Nyakane that's got in the way there, that's the scrum-half ignoring all the options and passing to the wrong person.

Pollard knocks on, the ball hits Nyakane in an offside position, and then Nyakane knocks on. The ref says, "Went backwards!" and South Africa recover and Reinach box kicks to 35m out. Hmpf.

Minute 28: England play off the top and South Africa are wider than before, but still pretty narrow. We go wide and May puts in a wicked grubber that pins Le Roux right back in his 22, only to be called back for Marchant being ahead of the kicker. It's a brainless penalty - he's clearly offside, the ref shouts at him to stop, and he adds practically nothing from doing it. Bad mistake.

Pollard entertains the crowd by slipping as he kicks the penalty, but still manages to get 30m.

Minute 29: England don't jump at this lineout and this time get their counterdrive timing right, but they're far too splintered and individual. South Africa wait and then go as a pack, driving over the top of Lawes and winning a penalty for him collapsing it, although that was more them tripping over what was left of his dignity than any conscious attempt by him. The South African maul is a well-oiled and incredibly dangerous machine, but we're making a rubbish job of defending it.

Minute 30: Pollard just gets the kick done in the minute.

[Puja]

Minute 31: England's kickoff ploy pays dividends - South Africa are waiting back for the long kick (and Le Roux is premptively popping arnica tablets), only for Smith to dink it just over the 10m line for Itoje to take an Aussie rules style catch on the run. He makes a good 10m on the burst, but decides to dummy to Curry rather than pass and gets stopped rather emphatically by Mbonambi.

Quick ball though and Sinckler's playing first receiver. Unfortunately his pull back to Smith is so telegraphed that he owes a 10c wiring fee to the US Post Office and Smith gets both player and ball. He somehow gets the ball away, but it's a wild pass and we lose the chance for a 4-on-1 as the ball hits the deck. Steward picks it up and puts in a gorgeous low kick into touch 5m out. Lovely recovery.

Minute 32: South Africa win the lineout and go through a phase before letting Pollard kick clear. He doesn't find touch though and England counter, but Steward makes a poor decision and passes to a stationary May rather than running himself. May goes backwards and we recycle near halfway, rather than attacking their 22 again. Hill gets us going forward again with a very powerful run through contact and we go wide to Smith who somehow manages to sell South Africa with a dummy to no-one before popping to Itoje on the crash.

Minute 33: We recycle and Nche takes an England forward out off the ball, but nevermind, as Youngs is sniping blind. South Africa are watching to see who he'll pass to and he nearly walks all the way through the gap before they realise they should tackle him. Slade is running through for the pop off the floor, but he's just too early and the ball hits the deck. Nevertheless, Underhill does a one-handed dive flick pass to Curry, who draws and gives to Steward, who draws and gives to Malins who has a real chance down the wing. Sadly De Allende has the angle and drags him into touch 8m out.

Weird lineout - Etzebeth is thrown across the England line despite it being his ball and only just avoids taking a nasty tumble as his lifters abandon him. Still South Africa ball though.

Minute 34: SA reset, but Reinach then hooks the box kick and we have the lineout in the 22. Sinckler is either giving a bizarrely overcomplicated lineout call to Blamire or he's recounting the plot of his soaps from last night - either way, we don't get a lineout this minute.

Minute 35: England look like they're driving, but it's actually a lovely back peel with Blamire feeding Tuilagi Marchant on the crash ball. Unfortunately, he gets stopped just after the gainline, but it's nice quick ball and England have some nice carries that take them close to the tryline with momentum on their side. Unfortunately, Youngs decides to pass behind an onrushing Itoje to Rodd going wide and Nche has utterly read it. Hammers Rodd backwards just as he's caught the ball and South Africa get the penalty turnover as England struggle to get back round and support.


And, just like an Italian prop, I'm coming off with 5 minutes left in the first half. Will see about getting some more done tomorrow.

Puja

[Danno]

Woopwoop!

(That's not sarcasm, I actually like these)

[Mikey Brown]

Me too. Difficult to say why. I feel like there’s too much going on at once in basically any game to absorb it all or even make the right interpretations of what has happened without slowing it down.

[Which Tyler]

Ditto

[Mr Mwenda]

Cheers for this, Puja.

[Puja]

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the nods - sometimes a bit worrying that I'm writing all this and no-one gives a shit (or worse, are rolling their eyes!). Your comments are always very much appreciated.

Puja

[Puja]

Minute 36: Penalty is kicked just into England's half. Itoje and Etzebeth are more interested in each other than getting the ball at the lineout, but it bounces to Reinach anyway who is stopped by a bit of a shoulder charge from Curry. Add another one onto the tally of reffing mistakes that South Africa should feel aggrieved about - I'd say there's slightly more on England's side at the moment (still fuming about that penalty), but it's pretty even.

With Reinach at the bottom, SA don't control it at the base and the ball is deemed out. Three Englishmen swarm it and it's back on our side, although I'm not sure quite how legally in the end. Youngs goes to box kick, but Lawes is in the way, so he has to take another two steps before kicking anyway and it's a poor effort. Should've passed when he realised Lawes was blocking him.

Minute 37: South Africa counter and England do well to shut them down. However this time it's South Africa's turn to give away a stupid penalty as Kwagga Smith goes pointlessly off his feet at a ruck. Slade kicks deep into the 22 and England are back on the attack.

Minute 38: England go tricky and pop the ball to Sinckler at the front, who then dabs it back to Blamire. Every single team in the world prepares that manouevre in training, but I think that's the first time I've ever seen that move work in real life instead of being called for not straight, not 5, or prop/hooker not being capable of catching. It doesn't get us much though - South Africa shut him down and we've converted an attacking lineout into a slow ruck 5m out. Steve Borthwick is in Leicester, weeping bitterly.

The ball is passed out to Curry who is standing still and facing South Africa's entire pack. He decides to take them on, picks his point and charges into the non-existent gap between a very well set De Jager and Vermeulen, who promptly put a shoulder in on each side of his ribcage and manhandle him backwards 5m. To add insult to injury, Sinckler then commits an incredibly obvious sealing off penalty and we are rightly pinged.

This has not been a good last three minutes for England - we've twice had good attacking ball in South Africa's 22 and both times have turned it over because we've given the ball to one man standing still on his own, and have been startled and out of position to secure the ball when he got utterly crushed. You'd say it's one part the forwards' fault, as they should be getting themselves into pods rather than offering themselves as individual carriers, and one part Ben Youngs's fault as he is old enough to be able to shout at the forwards and tell them to get f*cking organised or he won't give them the ball. Either way, Cockerill/Proudfoot need a slap. If you're BillyV or if you're playing Australia, you might get away with going as an individual and trying to bust through. As we're playing South Africa and we don't have Billy, we need to plan and organise better rather than just hope that, this time, we'll win a 2-on-1 collision.

Minute 39: Oof. Replay shows a slow-motion of Curry offering a big dummy to Rodd on the outside pop, before turning and carrying straight into the textbook bent forward driving tackles of Vermeulen and De Jager. That does not get any better on replay. I appreciate that Jones is trying to upskill him, but at this stage it's feeling sort of cruel to tell him that he can be a world class ball carrier in the tight. Let him be world class at everything else and have someone else carry the slow ball.

South Africa play the ball off the top of the lineout and once again we get nowhere near the steal. Nienaber's clearly taking notes and will tell them to maul everything in the second half, Cockerill is clearly not because he doesn't tell them to stop competing. Reinach is at 10 and chips over the England defence in a pre-planned call, but Malins is immediately in position and takes the ball on the first bounce. Our pendulum back 3 defence has been superb, especially considering Malins was stepping in having not expected to play most of the game - I wonder if Marchant would have dealt with these probing kicks so well. Malins beats the first man and kicks long and is very unlucky that it rolls into touch the wrong side of the 22m line as that deserved more.

Minute 40: Mbonambi screws up his throw for the first time and the ball goes over the top to Blamire. We recycle Itoje becomes the latest player to try and run through a set South African defence, although he does at least manage a neutral collision. It's slow ball though and Youngs passes back to Smith for the drop-goal, which is heartily scuffed. It's poor for a couple of reasons - firstly, he's in perfect position, 30m out and central, it's a good and he's got a lot of time to set himself. If you call for the drop-goal there, you should be hitting it 10 times out of 10. If you can't hit it, then you shouldn't be calling that play. Secondly, South Africa have no-one behind their front line. Willie Le Roux is over on the wing, no-one is sweeping behind and any chip kick towards the posts is going to cause utter havoc. I mean, "Young Fly-Half makes occasional poor decision" isn't a shocking news item, but he should have high standards with the talent that he's got and he'll be disappointed with both the decision and the execution of it.

[Puja]

Minute 40+1: South Africa take a short and high drop-out and May does a phenomenal job to bat it back. It looks a bit like it's gone forwards, but SA fans don't have to worry about injustice because Youngs reacts to glorious attacking ball with a dink into coffin corner. That could be called excellent game-management most of the game, but right now it's a horrible decision because South Africa sweep up and, instead of being trapped by their line and under pressure, just kick the ball dead to end the half.

It feels weird that it's 17-12 at half-time. We have dominated, yet are somehow only 5 points up. Granted, two of the penalties South Africa got were very average decisions, but we needed to make more of the three occasions we came to the 22 in the last 10 minutes of the half. Slow it down, get organised, reset.

[Digby]

I don't think the DG was a poor decision, it was risible on the execution front however even if also funny for just how low it was

[Puja]

I don't think the DG was a poor decision, it was risible on the execution front however even if also funny for just how low it was

That's fair. Thinking about it, if he'd scored it, I'd've said it was a good decision, regardless of the space that SA had left behind. However, that's one of those where, if you do go for it and eschew the other options, it has to be scored.

Puja

[Digby]

I don't think the DG was a poor decision, it was risible on the execution front however even if also funny for just how low it was

That's fair. Thinking about it, if he'd scored it, I'd've said it was a good decision, regardless of the space that SA had left behind. However, that's one of those where, if you do go for it and eschew the other options, it has to be scored.

Puja

Agreed.

Fair shout to go for it though, we made too many visits to their 22 which resulted in nothing, and the setup was there until the daisy cutter came out. And it'd have been stabilising for us and not pleasant for SA. I'd have said horrible for SA but actually they just do what they do, the scoreboard seems almost irrelevant to them

[Puja]

Minute 41: Heh! I didn't notice this on first viewing, but Smith dummies like he's going to do another dink to Itoje to get the Boks looking there, before turning and putting it high and on Le Roux's head again. WLR juggles in mid-air and gets the ball back more by luck than judgement, before getting filled in by Curry. South Africa are then all off their feet at the following ruck, but Rodd is the one to give away a penalty by being ahead of the back foot when going for the charge down. Incredibly dense penalty - SA are under pressure, Pollard slices the kick clear, it was going to be England ball, and Rodd didn't even accomplish anything with his extra metre. Take a step further back and don't give an easy exit.

Instead, because he couldn't take two steps back, we don't have the ball just outside their 22, South Africa have a lineout in England's half.

Minute 42: England's competition at lineouts finally pay off as Lawes does enough to force a knock-on. We fail to get a scrum done as both front rows are unsteady.

Minute 43: Cleverness fails us. Blamire goes for the quick strike, but the ball gets caught in the second rows' legs and never makes the back. South Africa drive straight through and we have no answer. The beginning of the end of the age of sneakiness and the start of us being overpowered.

Minute 44: On replay, it's possible that we were hard done by there. Hill compromises his position to try and get the ball out and Nche drives at Sinckler, but he's in no way driving straight and there's a decent argument that's our penalty. However, you're very rarely going to get given that when you're going backwards. Justice is served though, as Pollard slices the penalty kick.

Minute 45: The "Bomb Squad" is on and I am once again struck by the idea that Stephen Kitshoff is the most Irish looking man to ever be not even slightly Irish. I wonder how he survives in a South African summer.

Long 22 drop out, which is sent back by Pollard and Steward claims easily. We box kick back to halfway, but it's either too long or not long enough as Pollard has plenty of time to take and then spin it wide. Kwagga Smith looks like he's found a gap on the outside of Bevan Rodd, but Lawes is across with a big tackle to shut the door. Unfortunately we then have a huge brain-fart in defence - Marchant has the blindside covered, but Smith and Malins fold around and Lawes then joins as the guard, meaning that we have 4 defenders, including three of our quickest, covering 15m and lining up against... hang on, let me count them... *zero* South Africans. Poor.

Meanwhile, on the other 40-odd metres of width and facing the entire Springbok backline and half their forwards, our defensive backline is Hill, Sinckler, Itoje, Underhill and May. South Africa spin it wide and May performs more miracles to rush up to put on pressure, back off and avoid committing himself, and press wide without leaving too big of a space for Underhill to cover on his inside. He buys just enough time for the player who was covering deep as the wing/full-back to come up on his outside and cover off the overlap. Unfortunately, this time instead of Steward or Malins, it was Youngs who was covering there and he makes a right cock-up of rushing up to be the cavalry on his outside. He charges up too fast thinking that May's not going to get there and it's his job to tackle De Allende and stop a 3-on-1, loses his feet and can't start backing off when it becomes clear that May has De Allende covered, then decides he's going to try and tackle De Allende anyway and stop the offload, but the Bok is past him at that point so all he does is flail helplessly as the play goes past him, leaving De Allende to set Kolisi and Kriel free down the 5m channel.

Steward, faced with the 2-on-1, decides to take the ball-carrier and Kolisi fails to complete the offload that might've put Kriel away (although Underhill's in position to try another tackle like the Wales one, so it's not a given). Lucky escape for England.

[Tom Moore]

Minute 41: Heh! I didn't notice this on first viewing, but Smith dummies like he's going to do another dink to Itoje to get the Boks looking there, before turning and putting it high and on Le Roux's head again. WLR juggles in mid-air and gets the ball back more by luck than judgement, before getting filled in by Curry. South Africa are then all off their feet at the following ruck, but Rodd is the one to give away a penalty by being ahead of the back foot when going for the charge down. Incredibly dense penalty - SA are under pressure, Pollard slices the kick clear, it was going to be England ball, and Rodd didn't even accomplish anything with his extra metre. Take a step further back and don't give an easy exit.

Instead, because he couldn't take two steps back, we don't have the ball just outside their 22, South Africa have a lineout in England's half.

Minute 42: England's competition at lineouts finally pay off as Lawes does enough to force a knock-on. We fail to get a scrum done as both front rows are unsteady.

Minute 43: Cleverness fails us. Blamire goes for the quick strike, but the ball gets caught in the second rows' legs and never makes the back. South Africa drive straight through and we have no answer. The beginning of the end of the age of sneakiness and the start of us being overpowered.

Minute 44: On replay, it's possible that we were hard done by there. Hill compromises his position to try and get the ball out and Nche drives at Sinckler, but he's in no way driving straight and there's a decent argument that's our penalty. However, you're very rarely going to get given that when you're going backwards. Justice is served though, as Pollard slices the penalty kick.

Minute 45: The "Bomb Squad" is on and I am once again struck by the idea that Stephen Kitshoff is the most Irish looking man to ever be not even slightly Irish. I wonder how he survives in a South African summer.

Long 22 drop out, which is sent back by Pollard and Steward claims easily. We box kick back to halfway, but it's either too long or not long enough as Pollard has plenty of time to take and then spin it wide. Kwagga Smith looks like he's found a gap on the outside of Bevan Rodd, but Lawes is across with a big tackle to shut the door. Unfortunately we then have a huge brain-fart in defence - Marchant has the blindside covered, but Smith and Malins fold around and Lawes then joins as the guard, meaning that we have 4 defenders, including three of our quickest, covering 15m and lining up against... hang on, let me count them... *zero* South Africans. Poor.

Meanwhile, on the other 40-odd metres of width and facing the entire Springbok backline and half their forwards, our defensive backline is Hill, Sinckler, Itoje, Underhill and May. South Africa spin it wide and May performs more miracles to rush up to put on pressure, back off and avoid committing himself, and press wide without leaving too big of a space for Underhill to cover on his inside. He buys just enough time for the player who was covering deep as the wing/full-back to come up on his outside and cover off the overlap. Unfortunately, this time instead of Steward or Malins, it was Youngs who was covering there and he makes a right cock-up of rushing up to be the cavalry on his outside. He charges up too fast thinking that May's not going to get there and it's his job to tackle De Allende and stop a 3-on-1, loses his feet and can't start backing off when it becomes clear that May has De Allende covered, then decides he's going to try and tackle De Allende anyway and stop the offload, but the Bok is past him at that point so all he does is flail helplessly as the play goes past him, leaving De Allende to set Kolisi and Kriel free down the 5m channel.

Steward, faced with the 2-on-1, decides to take the ball-carrier and Kolisi fails to complete the offload that might've put Kriel away (although Underhill's in position to try another tackle like the Wales one, so it's not a given). Lucky escape for England.

That scrum at minute 43 was the moment at which I thought "Oh. The rest of this is going to be quite uncomfortable."

The minute by minute is as brilliant as ever, by the way. I tend to wait until you've finished, then watch it back.

[Danno]

Looking forward to how May's contributions are described

[Puja]

Minute 46: England take the lineout and form a maul that's a little ropey, but just about keeps the Boks out long enough for Youngs to box-kick. I don't know if it's intentional to not find touch, but it doesn't feel like a good decision - I'd've been happier with either 20m shorter and landing infield for the chase to be right on the catcher or to be 10m shorter and finding the touchline. This is a big long kick, but Kriel catches inside his own half under no pressure and can pick his point of counterattack with room to build up speed. Our defensive line is not good enough and we're lucky that Slade holds onto him after Curry misses him. Curry gets back and looks to have won the turnover, but Brace waves it away - that felt like a penalty for one team or the other rather than play on, but never mind.

Minute 47: The ball is pumped in the air and, once more, Steward takes it. We spin it wide and Slade tries the grubber through again, but it is half-blocked. If we're being harsh, you'd say he takes too long to get the kick away, but it would be a little harsh.

South Africa recover the ball and put up a nothing kick that Steward catches without even needing to jump. We recycle and look to have a good attacking position - this time there's actually a pod ready to go into contact - but unfortunately, Sinckler is already thinking about what he'll do and fumbles the catch. He manages to take it at the third attempt and avoid the knock-on, but at the expense of exposing his midriff to Marx, who promptly ploughs through him. We give away the penalty, yet again, for going off our feet after having gone backwards - possibly a needful penalty, but we are just making it too easy for Brace to give off-feet decisions that he's clearly looking for.

Minute 48: Pollard scuffs the kick the other side of the posts. Lucky escape that one. Marler is on for Rodd, who has had an excellent game - he's been overpowered in the scrums, but he's dealt with it by being tricksy and avoiding confrontation, and he's been notably hard-working in the loose. Worth investing in, although I'd still have him 4th choice with all being fit - now ahead of West and Obano though.

Minute 49: Long 22 drop out, which is sent back by Pollard and Steward claims easily. I've just copied and pasted that from minute 45, as apparently South Africa haven't learned. This time, the ball goes back to Smith, who puts up a garryowen on Mapimpi's wing. Le Roux has seen Steward do this and comes tearing in from a distance with a flying leap to claim the ball above Mapimpi... except his English full-back impression is more Daly than Steward and he spills the ball under very little pressure.

Malins gathers the loose ball, we run a couple of solid forward run phases, and then Smith belts it in the air. Doesn't look like a great kick as it's too short and our chase end up milling around under it with Pollard ending up taking unopposed. However, Curry makes up for it by smashing him and knocking the ball loose for an England scrum. The whistle is blown and De Allende then grabs Curry's ankle and lifts his leg to flip him backwards onto the floor. It's not very dangerous and certainly not a card, but it's definitely a penalty for being a petulant d*ck after the whistle has blown that neither the ref nor TMO seem interested in. Chalk one up for decisions England should feel annoyed about - that would've been 20-12 as it was right in front of the posts.

Minute 50: Raffi Quirke is on. Bold call by Eddie and a big sign of how highly Quirke is rated - Youngs hasn't been perfect, but he's been pretty solid and this definitely isn't a call he's been forced into.

The scrum is a penalty to South Africa - it's on the tighthead, so I can't see how fair a call that is, but it's poor play from Curry at the base. It's a great strike from Blamire and the ball is immediately back and playable for an 8 - if Curry is ready and picks immediately, that pen is never given. Instead, he works it back with his feet for Quirke to play and, 2 seconds later, the scrum has gone down and the ref's called it. That ball should've been in and out like greased lightning and I don't know why we're accepting the terms that the Boks are setting for us. Surely we're not that confident now that Marler's on the pitch?!

[Puja]

Looking forward to how May's contributions are described

I'm on minute 51 and May's actually been pretty good. He's had two glaring errors with the failed quick tap and the knock on when covering in our 22, plus the one run where he got caught and went backwards, but he was an integral part of the two tries we scored, with some lovely hard running, and he's been part of a very good defensive effort. Most notably, he's shut down three SA overlaps with positioning, timing, and ability to read the play - I think this might be one of those occasions where he's been unfairly maligned as having a bad game because the cockups have been so spectacularly showy!

Mind, there's still 29 minutes left to go and I don't remember the rest that well, so it could get far worse...

Puja

[Danno]

Fair point!

[Puja]

Minute 51: We manage not to give away a free-kick or penalty for messing about with the mark at the lineout and closing the gap - I was worried about that all game, but we stayed just on the right side of the ref's patience, which is novel for us. We'll call that well-judged.

Our maul defence is once again very bitty, but Hill has managed to work his way through onto the ball (not sure if legal, but good play either way) and it splinters the drive, so Reinach rips it free and plays away. Quirke shows a little inexperience as he thinks he's got Reinach, only for him to take the long route around Vermeulen who just happens to step back at the right time to block Quirke's pursuit. Thankfully Itoje is alert and manages to catch his shirt-tails or the 9's away.

Minute 52: South Africa go for some big forward runs, but our defence is solid, we do enough in the breakdowns to slow the ball, and we listen to the ref and avoid a silly penalty. Good play. In the end, Pollard gets bored and puts up a high kick on Steward, which he duly claims for the mark, which he then takes quickly to kick up to half-way.

Minute 53: South Africa catch England napping with a quick throw to the front man and the ball is out quickly and into midfield for Kolisi to run at Smith, who has made better defensive efforts than that. Too upright and he gets bounced off. In fairness, he might've thought Curry going low would take care of the tackle and he could go for the ball, but Kolisi stepped out of that, boshed Smith, and makes a good 7-8 metres before Slade brings him down. Quick ball and the same thing happens again - De Allende runs at Smith, this time it's Underhill who misses the low tackle and Smith is far too high. Manages to hold on, but is carried backwards another 7-8m. He's better than this and so are Curry and Underhill.

South Africa carry hard, but this time our defence is equal to it and the next phase Steyn tries a raking kick to the corner. The bounce of a rugby ball doesn't quite hate Jonny May this time - it kicks on and runs away from him at first, but then bounces up just before it goes into touch and he thankfully claims. Steward calls for the ball, but I'm not sure why - he's right underneath his own posts which is a terrible kicking position. May obeys instructions and passes and Steward kicks up to halfway, but only about 15m from touch and right into De Allende's hands. Poor call from Freddie there - touch of inexperience.

Minute 54: Steward compounds the mistake by being bumped by De Allende, although he does slow him down enough for Blamire to complete a tackle a couple of metres further on. Underhill thinks he's got a stonewall turnover (and gets a neckroll attempt for his troubles), but the referee is shouting "No, NO!" at him and the penalty is given to South Africa. The ref says he's second man in, which looks like a very, very, very harsh call on rewatch (plus a better ref would've shouted "Leave it 7!" to specifically communicate rather than "No! NO!" which could be to anyone on the pitch, including a naughty dog on the sideline), but if the ref's shouting, you shouldn't be dicking around.

Minute 55: Pollard converts the penalty while we're watching replays that makes me feel even more that Underhill was hard done by. The ref says Blamire was first man in to form the ruck, but both Blamire and Underhill engage at exactly the same time. Still, gotta listen to the referee. and it's 17-15. I had thought we were under the pump more than this watching it live - this first 15 minutes has been relatively even.

Dombrandt is on for Underhill and celebrates with a ceremonial hit of the South African full-back pinata at the kickoff. Steyn catches the ball on the 22, but a team of Curry and Dombrandt knock him and then Vermeulen back 10 metres.

Someone is shouting "HOOK IT! LEFT FOOT. HOOK HIM RAFFI" and Raffi does as told, getting a hand to JantjiesTheKick's attempt at clearing the ball. It's not quite enough for a charge down, but it's not clean and May runs round to take it 30m out. Makes a nice change of direction and a metre or two through the tackle, but the clearout is messy and the ball spills loose. Marler regathers and we recycle, but there's no forward momentum anymore and the ball goes back to Smith, who puts up a bomb on Mapimpi's wing again. It's a lovely kick and either Malins or Marchant have the run and the jumping height to claim the ball over Mapimpi, but unfortunately they've decided not to talk to one another like they're 13 year old girls having an argument and instead take each other out as they go for it. South Africa scrum from our knock-on. Annoying.

[Puja]

Minute 56: Sinckler is off for Stuart and the commentator refer to England's forward bench as "The Bomb Disposal Unit". Gosh, I sure hope that phrase doesn't become horribly ironic in the next few minutes.

The scrum is a work of art by South Africa and I've only just worked out how they're doing it from about 12 replays of the same 5 seconds. Rather than attacking from the immediate contact, they're taking a solid initial hit, getting the ball to the back, letting it get steady and then they're pulsing on one side. On a call, Etzebeth, Koch, and Kolisi all strike forward as one. The sudden surge on one side buckles Marler and knocks Itoje from his position and that side goes forward (not helped by the fact that it's the open side and Curry's got one eye on making sure he can break away if the ball is played from 8). After that initial one-sided surge, the call comes in for the big drive - Marler's side is fucked and goes backwards, him being compromised twists Blamire and Kitshoff is then free to get under Stuart in a one-on-one and f*ck him upwards. It is a thing of absolute beauty and I'm not even upset that it's been done to us because it was gorgeous. It's not even eight people working as a unit, it's eight people with precision timing working as several different units that are all in synch to deliver an unstoppable one-two-three combination. Maybe someone like Atonio could stop that through brute force, or maybe a fresh Genge/George/Sinckler would cause enough problems that they couldn't pull it off, but it's a vicious and cruel thing to do to a scrum that's just trying to survive and I love it.

Minute 57: England make a feeble attempt at competing at the lineout which does nothing but compromise the maul defence, but initially it doesn't seem to have cost us. However, just like the scrum, South Africa are getting everything set and are willing to lose or draw on the initial hit in order to get into the right position. It's a narrow, long, low driving position and once everyone is in place and they're secure, they bend their knees and drive on the call. England are utterly bulldozed - it's not quick, but it's tight and focussed and powerful and goes straight through the middle of our upright maulers. It takes 14 seconds from the call to drive to England bringing it down and they make 20 metres and win the penalty.

Minute 58: South Africa play with the advantage and go through some phases, but England's defence stand firm and actually pushes them back 10m or so. Unfortunately, Mapimpi spots that a shagged out Marler and Hill are the widest players on the short side and sweeps around to attack, drawing both before offloading to Marx. If I was being mean, I'd have a go at Hill for stepping in and tackling the player that Marler already has covered to leave a 2-on-0 overlap, but the poor sod had worked hard before just being brutally shamed backwards 20m in that maul so I will forgive him a tired mistake.

Quirke gets across to tackle Marx (and does a belting job too), but he can offload inside to Reinach and this looks a try all day long. Malins somehow gets back and Reinach's offload goes forward. Good thing too, as Malins then trips the South African runner with his hand, while lying on the ground and, if it hadn't been a knock on, it would've been a yellow and possibly a penalty try. Frankly, the maul collapse could very reasonably have been a yellow card in my book, as it was definitely a cynical foul to stop a try scoring opportunity.

Minute 59: South Africa kick to the corner and we have finally stopped competing. It's not a very focussed or aggressive maul defence though - Itoje is standing upright, ready to give Etzebeth a cuddle, rather than bent over and firing into him as soon as he hits the ground. The maul rumbles slowly and inexorably forward again and I am not quite sure how it's not a penalty try - I'm sure there's no way that collapsed legally, but I can't see from the TV angle who it was that brought it down. Mapimpi goes for a short drive and then Kwagga Smith makes the mistake of the game and tries to roll over the line, leaving the ball open for Malins to curl his entire body around. Great defence, but I'm sure that maul wasn't stopped legally and we are so lucky that KSmith is an idiot.

Minute 60: Marchant looks like he wants to take the goalline dropout quickly, but someone - probably a forward - tells him not to be a prick and instead we kick long out to the 10m line. Francois Steyn has been watching the best fly-half in the world playing for Leicester and attempts to copy the drop-out-to-drop-kick manouevre that Ford showed against Northampton, but it's well wide. He's still got a cannon of a boot though.