On Saturday evening we saw the South African rugby team steam roller the England Rugby team winning by 45-21 or 7 tries to 3 which is a hiding in rugby terms. The SA team was up by 17 points to nil within the first 12 minutes and the signs were ominous for the England team.
Giving England credit they fought back to 17-14 at half time and then the SA team went into another gear and ran away with the game. The forward dominance was that obvious and England were on the back foot for the majority of the game.
Depth was highlighted as prior to kick off two players from the SA team were withdrawn due to injuries being a hamstring and concussion. No worries as Rassie Erasmus has 3 or 4 players for every position and why you need depth.
When I was thinking of what the score could be prior to the match I did not take into account this team ahs not been together for the last 7 months having last played in November. The England team played their last game 3 months ago so this should have been factored in. The SA team have players playing in multiple leagues around the world so getting time together is never going to happen and they use face time instead which is not exactly the same as practicing together.
The SA team was rusty and it showed yet you knew there were extra gears the team could use at any point. There was definitely points left on the table with the replacement kicker on duty not matching the playmaker who is out injured for another month. If we have to highlight this team was short of 8 key players so this was a team missing half their first choice players.
The biggest problem England have is very obvious and that is discipline issues which has plagued them for some time. England have not played the last 100 minutes of rugby with all the players on the field and that is problematic. 95 points scored against them in those 100 minutes so how telling is that stat? The laws of the game should be what every player knows especially when you are playing a sport as a professional and this is your career.
A 24 Points Difference In Rugby Is Still A Heavy Defeat
The England captain stated after the match that this was a game of fine margins and this was not really the case. 7 tries to 3 tells you otherwise and if you lose by 24 points which is more than 3 scores then this is a proper hiding. As a SA fan we were obviously disappointed as this could and should have been a good 40 -50 point margin, but a win is a win.
The biggest disappointment was the empty seats in the stadium which holds 62 000 and only sold 57 000 tickets. Last week they sold tickets with a 33% discount and still could not fill the stadium. The R950 initial price was reduced to R650 and still there were no takers.
I would suggest that the local rugby fans have one eye on the incoming New Zealand tour that is a month away and were more expensive. With the economy the way it is you have to select which matches you attend and I have to admit watching England at Ellis Park was not on my wish list. I attended a match at this stadium last year and regretted every moment hating the experience. The music is too loud and you cannot concentrate on the game as the majority of the fans around you are drunk taking selfies which in my book is not a rugby fan.