The Springboks added to the misery of England with a hard-fought win in London on Saturday in a Test in which they had to overcome discipline issues, injuries to key players and a struggling lineout.

The back-to-back World Champions handed England their third straight defeat in an Authman Series for the first time since 2006 with a 29-20 win, after leading 19-17 at half time.

The Springbok winger Cheslin Kolbe was a two-try hero for South Africa as they managed to run in four tries for the victory.

England started the Test at Twickenham like a house on fire with Ollie Sleightholme scoring in the corner in the opening minutes, and Marcus Smith made no mistake in landing the conversion.

The lead was short-lived as the Springbok scrumhalf Grant Williams struck back with a stunning try after finding himself in space following a good show-and-go and a few good side-steps. Manie Libbok made no mistake in adding the extra two points.

The Boks stuck again when Eben Etzebeth charged down a kick from the back of the ruck by Jack van Poortvliet, Marcus Smith, gathered the ball, but then his exit kick of charged down by Pieter-Steph du Toit, who ran in to dot the ball down.

The Boks struck for a third time in 11 minutes when the winger, Kolbe, scored the whitewash for the first of his two tries, but soon after the England flanker Sam Underhill scored what would be their last try of the Test.

The Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, said it was as tough as they expected it to be, but they are content with the result, and there will need to be an improvement before facing Wales.

“It was tough,” said Erasmus.

Pieter-Steph du Toit - SA Rugby

 “We also had to work hard last week for the victory against Scotland. We missed a kick here and there and both teams were disallowed tries in the second half, while the injury to Ox Nche disrupted the way we planned to do things.

“We were certainly not happy with the performance, but if you beat England by nine points, it could come across as arrogant to say that. So, we are content with the result.”

 “Next week will be our last match and then we’ll see each other in June or July next year again, so we certainly want to end the tour on a high note.

“As coaches we first need to select the team and work really hard to analyse Wales properly and put our structures in place for the game, so that will be our focus next week.”

On Saturday 19:40 Wales will face the Springboks at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Scorers:

England: Tries - Ollie Sleightholme, Sam Underhill Conv. - Marcus Smith 2 Pen. - Smith 2

Springboks: Tries - Grant Williams, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe 2 Conv. - Manie Libbok 2, Handré Pollard Pen. – Pollard 

Morgan Piek OFM Sport