Ashton sifts debris for positives

South Africa 58 England 10:In some respects an outclassed England side got away lightly on Saturday. The second-highest margin of defeat in their history is little consolation but it would have been worse had South Africa not emerged after the interval laughing among themselves and failed to score a point for half an hour. In the second Test in Pretoria another heavy bombardment looks a certainty.

The 76-0 rout against Australia on the 1998 "Tour from hell" remains the worst drubbing but this was also the third-highest number of points ever conceded by an England team. With injury and illness stalking the squad, there is a case for halting the tour on humanitarian grounds. All the head coach, Brian Ashton, can do is scan the debris for positives and pray one or two of the younger players learn from their crash course in rugby reality.

The management can already reflect Mathew Tait and Toby Flood are made of the right stuff. Up front Mark Regan, Chris Jones, Alex Brown, Nick Easter and Pat Sanderson also put their bodies on the line, but stopping a tank with a pea-shooter would have been easier.

The real lesson was that South Africa are developing into something more than mere World Cup outsiders. Watching Schalk Burger, Juan Smith and Danie Rossouw playing human skittles was to wonder if there has ever been a more explosive Springbok pack.

The way Francois Steyn and the brilliant Ruan Pienaar skipped off the bench was sobering in the context of the World Cup game between the sides at the Stade de France on September 14th.

Ashton will have a stronger team then but South Africa's captain John Smit summed up the Springbok psyche when he admitted the coach Jake White had been less than satisfied with his side's seven tries, four of them in the last 10 minutes: "He'll only be happy when we've finished the job in France."

Ashton can only pray the stomach bug that wrecked England's preparations did not follow to Pretoria yesterday. Resources were so stretched a barely-fit Anthony Allen sat on the bench in the absence of any other backs.

South Africa's first five tries were caused by England ceding possession, the most glaring being an optimistic long pass from Jones in the direction of Easter, which gave Bryan Habana the chance to sprint 75 metres for the first of two impressive tries.

"In the first half, for whatever reason, we just seemed mentally off the pace," sighed Ashton. "Of their 30 points, South Africa didn't have to do a hell of a lot of work for 27 of them."

Only a consolation score in the right corner by James Simpson-Daniel salvaged a modicum of pride as England slumped to their seventh successive away defeat.

The accurate kicking game Ashton had hoped might stem the onslaught never materialised and Jonny Wilkinson, under heavy pressure, could do little to shape events around him.

With Percy Montgomery landing all 10 of his kicks at goal and Regan unable to produce a visible wound to substantiate a complaint he was bitten on the forearm in the first half, all Ashton could do was remain phlegmatic: "It's given me a clearer picture in my mind about one or two players. It is going to be very difficult to turn this round but hopefully we won't blow up in the last 11 minutes like we did here."

SOUTH AFRICA: Montgomery; Willemse, Olivier, De Villiers, Habana; James, Januarie; Carstens, Smit, BJ Botha; B Botha, Matfield; Burger, Smith, Rossouw. Replacements: Muller for B Botha, Van der Linde for BJ Botha (both half-time), Steenkamp for Carstens (48 mins), Steyn for Willemse (53 mins), Spies for Rossouw (56 mins), Pienaar for De Villiers (62 mins), G Botha for Smit (70 mins).

ENGLAND: M Brown; Balshaw, Tait, Flood, Robinson (capt); Wilkinson, Gomarsall; Yates, Regan, Turner; Schofield, A Brown; Jones, Hazell, Easter. Replacements: P Sanderson for Hazell (half-time), Crompton for Turner (53 mins), Winters for Jones (56 mins), Simpson-Daniel for Balshaw (58 mins), Perry for Wilkinson (73 mins), Cairns for Regan (76 mins).

Referee: S Walsh (New Zealand).

Guardian Service