England stop the rot
Josh Lewsey produced a string of try-saving tackles in the first half
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Saturday, 18, Nov 2006 07:18
England halted their run of losing Tests with a 23-21 win over South Africa at Twickenham that came in spite of an understandably nervous performance.
Considering both sides' lack of confidence it was perhaps unsurprising that the game got off to a relatively cagey start with two penalties exchanged apiece in the first half-hour.
The one real scare for the home side was when centre Jean de Villiers intercepted a tentative pass from Charlie Hodgson before racing towards the line, only to be bundled into touch by the covering Josh Lewsey.
Full-back Lewsey had already produced a trio of last-ditch tackles to halt breakaway backs moves by the South Africans but could do nothing to prevent them crossing on 36 minutes.
A poor attempt to clear England's lines by Ben Cohen allowed the Springboks to counter-attack as the green-and-gold shirts flooded down the left wing.
Eventually de Villiers beautifully slipped a pass out of the tackle which allowed Butch James space to race in for the game's first try.
There was more bad news for the England management as two minutes from the interval Charlie Hodgson, so controversially substituted last week, was forced from the field with a leg injury.
Andy Robinson's problems worsened just three minutes after the break when the influential James' perfectly-weighted chip was gathered by Akona Ndungane, who touched down in the corner.
With the visitors holding a threatening twelve-point lead, England forced their way forward and, aided by the sin-binning of de Villiers, applied enough pressure to allow Mark Cueto to keep up his impressive Test rugby strike-rate.
The Sale winger pounced on the clean ball presented by substitute fly-half Andy Goode to dive over from short range.
Goode's conversion took the score to 18-13 in the visitors' favour before he and James went on to trade penalties as the game headed into the final ten minutes.
Eight minutes from the end Phil Vickery powered over as part of a massed England forward drive and Goode added the extras to finally regain the lead at 23-21.