Damian Willemse’s wizardry helped steer the Springboks to victory over England on Saturday, putting a gloss on an ill-disciplined 2022 from the world champs, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Willemse’s drop goal gave South Africa a 6-3 lead in the 30th minute in London, before the flyhalf combined with Willie le Roux to set Kurt-Lee Arendse off for the first try of the match, and knocked over another clutch kick after half time.
An emphatic 27-13 win for the men in green and gold ended their eight-year wait for a win against the Roses at Twickenham, and saw them finish the season with an eighth victory from 13 Tests for Jacques Nienaber’s troops.
ICYMI – Arendse steers Boks to historic win
However, the Boks began their November tour with back-to-back defeats to Ireland and France, after finishing second in the Rugby Championship to an average All Blacks side, while SA also lost a first Test at home to Wales in July.
In his TimesLIVE column, Keohane suggests that Willemse’s standout performance on Saturday also somewhat made up for the Boks’ ongoing battle to avoid the ire of the referee.
“Discipline has been a problem in most of South Africa’s bigger Tests this year and to concede four penalties in the first 20 minutes, should have been nine points [on the scoreboard for England],” Keohane wrote. “Instead, it cost just the three as [Owen] Farrell missed two of the three.
“The Boks, with such forward parity at the set piece, and so strong in the collisions, were far more effective when they were prepared to hurt England with their superior starting pack and then allow for the likes of Willemse to play backline magician and wicked wizard.
“Willemse, whose 30th minute drop goal changed everything about the Test, added a second effort on 43 minutes to extend a Bok advantage to 17-3, and unlike a week ago against the All Blacks, there was no coming back for the hosts, despite the Boks playing the final 20 minutes with 14 players.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
