The Springboks‘ end-of-year-tour went from bad to worse last night as they went down 24 – 23 to a spirited Saracens side at Wembley.

After a promising start in which they built up a 18-6 lead at halftime the Springboks fell away drastically in the second period as an amazing midweek crowd of 46 281 cheered Sarries home to a famous victory.

Notwithstanding Welsh referee James Jones making a number of odd decisions that favoured Sarries and the fact that this was South Africa’s second string the Springboks’ proud record of being the No 1 side in the world lay in tatters as they prepared to fly to Italy for Saturday’s test against Italy.

In what was a match between the Experimental Boks and the Expatriate Boks (Saracens had ten South Africans, including four former Boks, in their squad) the supposed next generation of Springbok rugby was made to look thoroughly inept once the Guinness Premiership log leaders got a sniff of victory in the second half.

Yet again the Springbok scrum was humiliated, the work of the backs clumsy and predictable, the range of kicking limited and their support play incohesive. The Boks’ lineout went well but even that was not sustained until the end.

It fell to Derick Hougaard, whose all-round performance was iffy to say the least, to seal the triumph with a dropped goal (after four previous missed field-goal attempts) and even though his Ge Korsten-theme song did not ring out the Sarries fans forgave him his earlier clumsiness and celebrated as they do at Loftus and as the Tigers did at Welford Road.

Hougaard drew first blood with a penalty but this was cancelled out with two penalties from Ruan Pienaar as the Springboks eked some benefit out of their domination of territory and possession.

After a thrilling breakout and long sprint by Jongi Nokwe and Andries Bekker, who was just tackled into touch by Noah Cato, the Boks kept Sarries pinned in their half and they eventually cracked open their defences when Juan de Jongh beat two tackles to stretch over for a try after five strong phases.

Although Pienaar missed the conversion the Boks, 11-3 up, had the look of a team ready to cut loose.

With Adriaan Strauss and Dewald Potgieter always in the van it seemed the Boks had shrugged off the blow of losing CJ van der Linde as early as the tenth minute (to be replaced by Wian du Preez) and there was a focus and edge that had been missing in their first two matches.

And, as so often happens, fortune favoured the dominant team as the Boks scored their second try.

A punt over the top by Earl Rose was chased hard, Ashley Johnson and Sarries fullback Michael Horak leapt for the ball, it shot back towards the posts and Jongi Nokwe collected it and sped over at the posts.

Saracens claimed the ball had come off Johnson but referee Jones ruled otherwise; the try stood, Pienaar converted and the tourists were out to 18-3 with just two minutes left of the first half.

Hougaard, crucially as it turned out, goaled his second penalty to make the halftime score 18-6 in favour of a Springbok side who looked set to draw away to an emphatic victory — but instead they gave credence to the old cliché about a game of two halves!

Both teams made substitutions at the turnaround (Danie Rossouw for Bekker and Schalk Brits for Ethienne Reynecke and Kevin Barrett for Neil de Kock) and it turned out Saracens were a team transformed by Brendan Venter’s halftime tactical rant.

However they needed the help of two unforgivable kicking errors by the Boks to set them on their way.

First Ruan Pienaar put a drop-out straight into touch and then, from the ensuing scrum, Francois Hougaard, just seconds after replacing Heini Adams, had a kick charged down to provide a try on a plate for Ernst Joubert.

Hougaard missed the conversion but the temper of the match changed dramatically.

From being confident and in control of the ball the Boks were suddenly rattled and unsure and to make matters worse the referees’ decisions started to go the way of the home-side.

A pass by Strauss to Deysel after he had collected the ball at a lineout was questionably called forward and at the resultant scrum Sarries pulverised the Bok eight to provide the momentum for Barritt, formerly of the Sharks, to bulldoze his way over.

Hougaard converted to make it level-pegging, 18-18, with a little more than the last quarter left to play.

Although their crumbling scrum was alarming the Boks managed to regain their composure as Pienaar finally settled things down with long, diagonal kicks to touch; a tactic which should have been applied a long time previously in view of his side’s superior lineout.

Alistair Hargreaves managed to spoil Brits’ throw, Strauss gained possession and as the ball flicked down the Bok line Earl Rose made a delightful tap-back to Odwa Ndungane that created the hesitancy in the Sarries line that enabled the wing to put Nokwe away on the outside for his second try.

Pienaar failed to get the extras, making it 23-18, but the final word belonged to Derick Hougaard, who went from villain to darling, as he slotted a penalty and then the drop, after another penalty had already been awarded, to consign the Springboks to yet another distressing defeat.

Scorers were:

Saracens (6) 24: Tries by Ernst Joubert (45 min), Brad Barritt (53 min). Derick Hougaard kicked a conversion, three penalties and a dropped goal.

Springboks (18) 23: Tries by Juan de Jongh (28 min), Jongi Nokwe (37 min & 62 min). Ruan Pienaar kicked two penalties and a conversion.

Source + Pic: supersport.co.za