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South Africa and England play to a draw

England's Danny Care scored the first try of the match

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Article Published: Saturday 23 June 2012






England recovered from their series loss to the South Africa by earning a 14 all draw in the last Test match which was played in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

England finish their five match tour with a record of won two matches, lost two and drawn one. The two losses were however the Tests which costs them the series.

Both teams scored a try a piece and three penalties each with three from Morne Steyn for the Springboks and two from Owen Farrell and one from Toby Flood for England.

While England lost the series they will take heart from the fact they are the only team that did not get beaten 3-0 by a Sanzar team this month.

England took an early lead in the match but South Africa soon levelled with a penalty. England went ahead again when man of the match Danny Care scored the first try.

South Africa kept themselves in the match with two penalties and led 9-8 at half time.

England could have won the match but replacement fly-half Owen Farrell fluffed a stoppage-time drop goal attempt which would have won the match after massive post-hooter pressure at a wet Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in this coastal city.

With no way through the green and gold defence, the ball was passed back to Farrell, whose attempt was low and wide to the relief of most in a capacity 45,000 crowd.

Usually deadly South African goal kicker and fly-half Morne Steyn had another off-day, missing three of six shots at goal and a late drop-goal attempt that prompted boos from some spectators.

Steyn kicked three penalties and right-wing JP Pietersen scored his second try in as many Tests for the Springboks while scrum-half Danny Care crossed the line for England and Farrell (twice) and fly-half Toby Flood kicked penalties.

The result ended a run of nine consecutive victories by South Africa over England since 2006 and was only the second draw between the countries with the first 106 years ago at Crystal Palace in London.

England were ahead in less than two minutes as South Africa got caught offside and Flood kicked a simple penalty before missing a second, more difficult attempt soon after.

With seven minutes gone the teams were level as another offside infringement offered Steyn the chance to kick his first penalty on a ground where he scored all 18 points in a triumph over New Zealand last year.

An attempted clearance kick by Steyn that was blocked by impressive No 8 Thomas Waldrom led to England regaining the lead after 11 minutes through a try from Care.

The charge down led to England bursting down the middle and when the home team were penalised, Care spotted a gap, took a quick tap penalty and dived over between forwards Jannie du Plessis and Eben Etzebeth.

Flood saw his conversion drift just left of the far post and Steyn cut the deficit to two points with another successful penalty kick on 16 minutes as the English pack continued to be penalised at rucks and mauls.

Steyn missed his third penalty kick while England found themselves down to a third-choice fly-half in Alex Goode as injuries sidelined Flood and replacement Owen Farrell.

Farrell, axed after the first Test loss in Durban, returned after Steyn kicked a 28th-minute penalty to edge the Springboks 9-8 ahead and close the opening-half scoring.

But it could have been a wider margin at the break as a multi-phase attack by the green and gold brought them close to the English line before 20-year-old Etzebeth knocked on.

Both teams had penalty chances within the first 10 minutes of the second half and while Farrell made no mistake from close range, Steyn fluffed a more difficult opportunity.

fter numerous warnings to the English forwards for infringements, Australian referee Steve Walsh lost his patience on 51 minutes and yellow carded hooker and captain Dylan Hartley.

South Africa spent a lot of time in the English half and were finally rewarded just past the hour mark when line-out possession led to an assault on the line and a skip pass from scrum-half Ruan Pienaar sent Pietersen over.

Steyn failed to convert from far out, but the Springboks were ahead 14-11 only for England to level when Farrell kicked his second penalty from close range with eight minutes to go.

Final Score South Africa 14 (9) England 14 (8).

Scorers

South Africa
Tries - JP. Pietersen
Pen - M. Steyn 3
Con -
Drop -
Cards -

England
Tries - D. Care
Pen - T. Flood, O. Farrell 2
Con -
Drop -
Cards - D. Hartley (yellow)

Match Officials
Referee
: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Timekeeper: Albert Mocke (South Africa)

Teams

South Africa

15. Gio Aplon, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jean de Villiers (c), 12. Wynand Olivier, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Morne Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Pierre Spies, 7. Jacques Potgieter, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Juandre Kruger, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Beast Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Werner Kruger, 18. Flip van der Merwe, 19. Ryan Kankowski, 20. Ruan Pienaar, 21. Elton Jantjies, 22. Bjorn Basson.

England

15 Alex Goode , 14 Chris Ashton , 13 Jonathan Joseph , 12 Manusamoa Tuilagi , 11 Ben Foden , 10 Toby Flood , 9 Danny Care ,1 Joe Marler , 2 Dylan Hartley (capt) , 3 Dan Cole , 4 Tom Palmer , 5 Geoff Parling , 6 Tom Johnson , 7 James Haskell , 8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements , 16 Lee Mears , 17 Paul Doran Jones , 18 Mouritz Botha , 19 Phil Dowson , 20 Lee Dickson , 21 Owen Farrell , 22 Brad Barritt

 
 
 
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