South Africa put England to the sword in the final game of the Autumn Nations Series, winning a fiery encounter 27-13 at Twickenham.
The Springboks, who were reduced to 14 men on the hour, were superior throughout and established a healthy lead after scores from ice-cool Kurt-Lee Arendse and the returning Eben Etzebeth.
A red card for replacement prop Thomas du Toit threatened to undermine all their hard work, and for a moment it seemed that another epic England comeback was on the cards when Henry Slade scored with nine minutes to play.
But lightning did not strike twice for Eddie Jones’ men, as South Africa held on for their second win in November and first over England at HQ since 2014.
SPRINGBOKS WIN WAR OF ATTRITON
England were beaten time and time again at the scrum in the Rugby World Cup final three years ago and with the front row that started that game reforming here, the first battle was always going to be a fierce one.
It was South Africa who came out on top, thereby giving Faf de Klerk a shot for three points. As it was only his fourth goal kick in Test rugby it was not entirely surprising to see the kick land the wrong side of the upright.
More surprising was Owen Farrell’s miss just a couple of minutes later, though he corrected shortly after to hand England the first points of the evening.
De Klerk was also more accurate the second time round before another uncharacteristic Farrell miss.
Freddie Steward then kicked out on the full, handing South Africa a golden opportunity to cross the whitewash as England were quickly becoming their own worst enemy.
But the pack came to the rescue of their young full-back, and just in the nick of time, with Siya Kolisi adjudged to have been held up after an inventive lineout routine.
It was backs to the wall for England by this point, and the Springboks eventually managed to convert their dominance into points, with Damian Willemse calmly slotting a drop goal from just outside the 22.
The stand-in fly-half then kickstarted the move which finished with a stunning score for red-hot Arendse. Willemse netted a high ball from Marcus Smith before tip-toeing away from Steward and haring down the right flank.
He found Willie le Roux on the inside and the full-back toyed with Jonny May before finding Arendse, who wrong-footed Smith and scored in the corner for a try in six consecutive tests, becoming only the third South African to do so.
De Klerk then added another penalty to make it 14-3 as a dream first half for the Springboks came to a close.
DU TOIT RED THREATENED MORE LATE DRAMA
Willemse was in the mood and added another three with a second drop goal just after the restart while tempers flared, though not to the extent that Angus Gardner deemed that cards were necessary.
Farrell followed up with a penalty but South Africa were soon further ahead, as second row Etzebeth bulldozed his way through from close range shortly after Tom Curry was sin-binned for leaning on a ruck.
And there was daylight between the two teams after De Klerk’s third and best penalty which flew over from halfway.
England were handed a lifeline when new arrival Du Toit was shown a red card for a no arms tackle on Luke Cowan-Dickie, which made direct contact to the head, leaving Gardner with no hesitation.
The home side could not capitalise as quickly as they would have wanted to, though finally broke through when Slade slid over following a brilliant break from fellow replacement Jack Nowell.
But South Africa managed the closing stages brilliantly, ensuring there was no repeat of England’s heroics against the All Blacks.
