England 12-11 South Africa: Victory in Twickenham "near miracle"

This is supposedly an autumn that creates the musical atmosphere of the World Cup that will follow 10 months. At the end of Saturday in Twickenham, this music was half-thunder and half-theme Themes of Benny Hill. It was a match both exciting and imperfect, neglected and beautiful.

In the end, no one was talking about the World Cup. When a match comes down to one point and the fifth minute of extra time, you can not look any further than the chaos that is happening right in front of your nose.

England will not win to play like this every week. Similarly, the first-leg match against New Zealand next weekend will see black shirts blur in the distance. In the first half, they had only 22% of the territory and 33% of the possession. Not once have they been in possession of the ball in Springbok 22.

The fact that they are only two points down has something to do with a tenacious defense and rather with the debility of South Africa, but counts more than all these other aggregated statistics.

Hanging on it is an underrated skill in international sport. Nobody is content to survive, but keeping your head out of the water when everyone else is losing theirs takes a lot of fighting and courage and an illogical amount of self-confidence.

Imbalance at the front

Seven of the English in the starting group had fewer caps combined than the other. Four made their first appearance in England. Two other beginners came out of the bench a few seconds later.

You could say. During those first nightmarish minutes, the English strikers looked like Austin Powers' henchman who seemed about to be splashed by a steamroller to stay up for such an improbable time.

The Springboks were so likely to crush them that you badumed it was unavoidable. Maro Itoje in the siph-bin, repeated line-ups on the English five-yard line, scrum scrum and riders smashing under defensive weapons.

If England had lost 15 points, she would have had few complaints. For them, recovering a victory seemed almost miraculous, and it was with the zeal of the newly converted that the spectators celebrated the end.

The pressure on Jones decreases

Eddie Jones was long ago as the messiah of English rugby. It was also a game when too many of his players were very naughty boys. Her England has been defined in the past 10 months by her lack of discipline, her fragile defense and her inability to adapt to the challenges she faces.

Stealing this one by sorting out the three, even late, lightened the shoulder burden of their coach and saved them time.

In 84 minutes, England still had only 41% possession and 36% territory. Handre Pollard strikes outside the post with a penalty that would have won for the visitors and will never claim the opposing goal that would have done the same thing in the last moments.

& # 39; A good solid tackle & # 39;

Even with the clock in the red, it could have gone the other way. Owen Farrell's veneer against Andre Esterhuizen may not fit the definition of this act by some observers. His shoulder was high and his head was looking in the other direction and his arms were not around the South African when the two met.

What Jones later described, any sneaky, sneaky innocence, described as a "good, solid tackle" could, on another day, lead to a penalty and a defeat. The speed with which the two men met and the shock of the impact may have made it difficult to hold, but it was not an improved look at slow motion or in freeze frame .

Jones' partner Rbadie Erasmus had enough reason to feel badly treated. Has not his Malcolm Marx hooker been launched with the precision of the same name as Groucho, If his other forwards had not spilled the ball several times in such a sloppy way, the match would have been put away.