Perth, Oct 19: England on course for World Cup final after beating South Africa 25-6. England survived an immense physical onslaught from South Africa to emerge 25-6 winners of a World Cup pool C match that lived up to its billing as a monumental forward battle on Saturday (October 18). South Africa produced an awesome display of tackling in the first half, while England's performance was strewn with errors. But the teams were still level 6-6 at the break after four missed penalty attempts by flyhalf Louis Koen. England gradually took command in the second half, their fitness showing up well as they scored the only try through centre Will Greenwood and completed the win with a total of 20 points from the boot of the flawless Jonny Wilkinson. They can now look forward to a quarter-final against Wales or Italy, with France then likely to stand in the way in the semis. But there will need to be a considerable improvement on Saturday's patchy display if they are to go all the way and win the trophy for the first time. South Africa, for whom this was only a second defeat in three World Cups, must now pick themselves up for a probable quarter-final against New Zealand, with defending champions Australia likely to be awaiting the winners in the semis.


There was no hint of the struggle to come when England started strongly, Wilkinson getting them on the board with a fourth-minute penalty. Winger Jason Robinson twice cut through the middle while centre Mike Tindall was hauled down inches from the line.


But the score didn't materialise and South Africa levelled with a Koen penalty after 18 minutes. England then struggled to find any cohesion, with scrumhalf Kyran Bracken looking sluggish early on and Wilkinson failing to stamp his authority on the game.


Some huge Springbok tackles and some desperate forward battles for possession were the feature of the next 20 minutes as neither side was able to get their backs moving.


Wilkinson landed a second penalty after a rare England foray but as the half dragged on South Africa became dominant, aided by a series of inexplicable misdemeanours by the normally disciplined England players at the breakdown.


Unfortunately for the Springboks, Koen's radar was off and the flyhalf missed four successive penalty attempts, including three in seven minutes, before finally finding the target a minute before the break to make it 6-6 at the break.


After no doubt listening to a halftime rocket from coach Clive Woodward, England came out firing and the early pressure earned Wilkinson a point-blank penalty to make it 9-6 within two minutes.


Still South Africa pressed and Robinson produced a try-saving tackle to keep out Bakkies Botha after an enterprising 70-metre Springbok breakout, but their failure to finish was punished again when Wilkinson landed his fourth penalty.


But there was little for the England fans in a 38,834 crowd to get excited about as the European champions continued to give away possession with turnovers and a series of badly executed downfield kicks.


It was a another kicking error by Koen that led to the only try in the 63rd minute, when the flyhalf's attempted clearance was charged down by flanker Lewis Moody to present Greenwood with a straightforward run in try.


Koen, who did not have a single shot at goal in the second half, was replaced soon after but the damage had been done for the 1995 champions.



Four years ago South Africa won the teams' quarter-final meeting in Paris thanks in part to five Jannie de Beer drop goals. Wilkinson, left on the bench for that game, will have taken immense pleasure in slotting two of his own to break the Springbok resistance as England ended the game in control.


It was their fifth successive victory over South Africa and though it was not the most impressive, it was by far the most important.


Bureau Report