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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.
Instead, he looked like a man who did all the hard work to seduce a girl, but only to stumble for the kiss and end up banging her chin.
"The only thing that matters is this point of the dashboard," he said. "We have not finished our chances, and if you do not finish your chances and give too many penalties, you will lose the Test match.
"If it [Farrell] was a charge in the shoulder the referee would have given a penalty. If it was a good tackle then congratulations because I did not see Esterhuizen stopped like that before.
"Nothing upsets me, if it was legal, we should persevere and do it because it is very effective."
By the time you read this, a retrospective sanction may have been imposed on Farrell. Jones is long enough to throw a smoke screen ("We can be quoted now for something we did at a party at the age of 15"), but he also savored everything his mid-ball had brought to the contest.
Fantastic Farrell
Farrell started as a co-captain of his team, but he ended, as usual, both a heartbeat and a replica of his best version outrageous, uncompromising and relentless.
It is rare to see him leave at 10 o'clock, but he is very familiar to see him head straight in, a player who likes the brutal style of a game like this and who nevertheless goes from fierce to calm when the Penalties arrive and that small gaps open.
England wasted with at least two chances to score goals while she first stemmed the tide and then reversed it in the second half, Elliot Daly ignoring Jonny May's freedom on the left and Brad Shields losing the ball in the corner a few minutes later.
Farrell does not make waste. He does not doubt much either. Barely did the referee Angus Gardner begin to tell him that there was no late offense at the time when he was heading for the arm in there. air to celebrate the victory.
"When you get these arm fights, someone will give," Jones smiled next. "And we have not given."
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