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England's title defence in tatters
PA Sport
Saturday, September 15, 2007 - 14:38 PM (AEST)
Jason Robinson England will be fighting for its World Cup life in Nantes next weekend after suffering a record tournament defeat against South Africa.
Number eight Nick Easter admitted Friday night's 36-0 Stade de France thumping was 'embarrassing'.
One leading firm of bookmakers immediately installed the fallen giants as an 80/1 shot to retain the Webb Ellis Trophy.
England must beat Samoa to have any realistic chance of staying alive. On current evidence, it will struggle, in an indication of just far England has fallen behind the leading nations during the past four years.
It was swept aside as the Springboks took charge of yesterday's Pool A clash through first-half tries from flanker Juan Smith and wing JP Pietersen.
Pietersen added his second try after the break, while full-back Percy Montgomery slotted 18 points from the boot and centre Francois Steyn also landed a penalty.
In World Cup terms, it eclipsed England's previous record loss - 44-21 against South Africa - in the same stadium eight years ago.
Easter said: "We were never in the game. There were too many free-kicks and penalties. We were always chasing the game."
"We are pretty down. That was a trouncing. It was pretty embarrassing, the scoreline."
"But there is no point being angry. If you lose your head (it's over). You have got to have a cool head."
"We've had three poor performances in a row, but we've got to back ourselves more, maintain tactics and discipline."
England's problems though, could mount during the next 24 hours after injuries to full-back Jason Robinson (hamstring) and centre Jamie Noon (knee) left the title holders licking their wounds.
Fly-halves Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley missed the Springboks calamity through injuries, while skipper Phil Vickery serves the second game of a two-match ban against Samoa.
Easter added: "It's how you are in the face of adversity, and at the moment we haven't been (good)."
"I don't think we will have a fully fit team, not the way Jason Robinson went off. I think Jonny will be back, he's been doing a lot of intensive physio."
England's latest dismal display followed a stuttering 28-10 success against the USA last weekend, but England head coach Brian Ashton said: "I won't accept this was a worse performance than against America last week."
"South Africa are probably one of the top two sides in world rugby. They played extremely well for the full 80 minutes."
"We didn't help ourselves in the first half of the game."
"There is going to have to be a big performance next Saturday, end of story, otherwise we are going to be on our way home."
"I don't want to talk about individual players. The defeat was largely down to the way South Africa played - they were incredibly efficient in everything they did."
"The whole context of the game was totally different to last weekend."
"In terms of performance, we played better in some areas. If we had played like that last week, we would have scored 80 points."
Ashton now has a huge task on his hands to lift morale for the Samoa encounter, and there were boos from England's travelling support as the team trudged off.
No Rugby World Cup holder has ever gone out in the pool stage, yet that is the ignominy England now faces unless it can drastically get its act together.
South Africa though, has no such problems, and appears well on course to compete at the tournament's business end alongside New Zealand and Australia.
Springboks coach Jake White said: "We are obviously delighted. We had lost Schalk Burger (suspended) and Jean de Villiers (injured), so to get a result like that was obviously pleasing."
"This is one of the biggest victories we've had as a group of people."
"When the (World Cup) draw was made, we always knew this would be a tough game for us."
Brian Ashton must have his head up his arse if he thought they were only outplayed, they were downright woeful...
Another article, same news...
Springboks smack England
PA Sport
Saturday, September 15, 2007 - 07:25 AM (AEST)
England's deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by South Africa at the Stade de France, the Springboks condemning the reigning champions to a record 36-0 Rugby World Cup defeat.
The Webb Ellis Trophy holders were swept aside as South Africa took charge through first-half tries from flanker Juan Smith and wing J P Pietersen.
Pietersen added his second try after the break, while full-back Percy Montgomery added 18 points from the boot and centre Francois Steyn also landed a penalty.
In World Cup terms, it eclipsed England's previous record loss - 44-21 against South Africa - in the same stadium eight years ago.
It means England must beat Samoa in Nantes next Saturday to have any realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals, where Australia will likely await.
England's defeat was the first time it had failed to trouble the scorers in a Test match since 1998, losing 18-0 against South Africa in Cape Town.
No Rugby World Cup holder has ever gone out in the pool stage, yet that is the ignominy England now faces unless it can drastically get its act together.
South Africa though, has no such problems, and appears well on course to contest the tournament's business end alongside New Zealand and Australia.
England's road since winning the 2003 World Cup has been a rocky one, and there was a sense of inevitability about the way South Africa ruthlessly took it apart.
England is no longer at the top table of world rugby, and the psychological scars of this crushing defeat will surely take a long time to heal.
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