London: England coach Stuart Lancaster says he “doesn’t doubt” that there will be a reaction from the Springboks to their Ireland defeat.
While the Boks looked shell-shocked after going down 29-15 in Dublin, it doesn’t mean that England are suddenly thinking that it will be a bit easier to finally end their 11-game winless run against the South Africans this weekend.
“I think there will be a reaction from South Africa this weekend. I don’t doubt it. I thought Ireland played well. South Africa had periods of dominance in the game, particularly in the maul and scored a good try and probably could have had a couple more. They were very dominant in the scrum. (Willie) Le Roux’s counter-attacking threat and kicking game was good,” Lancaster said yesterday ahead of Saturday’s Test at Twickenham.
“But Ireland managed the kicking game well. Jonathan Sexton played extremely well in the game and Ireland deserved the win, so I am sure there will be a reaction from the South Africans.”
But England themselves tasted defeat on Saturday, losing 24-21 to the All Blacks, and it was a frustrating afternoon at Twickenham for Lancaster after his side had been on top in the first half. The world champions showed their class after halftime and eventually put together a trademark multi-phase attack that led to replacement tighthead prop Charlie Faumuina barging over to clinch the victory with 10 minutes to go.
England want to avoid that second-half lull against the Boks, and spoke openly and honestly at their game review about where they could improve.
“It was honest but also objective in terms of the positives, the way we played in the first half. We were up at halftime and deserved to be in that positive. Obviously we were pretty hard on ourselves in not taking those opportunities that we should have done in the first half. We know that at this level if you don’t take those opportunities, they can sometimes come back and hurt you,” Lancaster said.
“Clearly that was the case in the second half. New Zealand played well in the second half and we didn’t play as well.
“Saturday’s game is now definitely more important (after losing to New Zealand). I am sure South Africa will feel the same. They came on the back of a strong finish to the Rugby Championship and played some very good rugby, culminating in beating New Zealand.
“They will have come to the northern hemisphere confident and rightly so. From ourselves, from speaking to the players and sensing the mood, there is a lot of frustration with ourselves for not having improved on that halftime score to close out the win.”
There was some good news on the injury front, with star lock Courtney Lawes, who went off against New Zealand with concussion, likely to be ready to face the Boks. - The Star