"Springboks' second home" – 5 Things You Missed: England 20-29 South Africa – Autumn Nations Series
Yesterday at 04:42 PM
England came up short against South Africa this evening, despite an impressive effort against the back-to-back World Champions. England’s search for a win extends to five matches in a row, with Steve Borthwick’s side yet to secure a victory in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.
We were just 90 seats away from the full 82,000 capacity at the Allianz Stadium, with an army of green and gold shirts supporting their Springboks every step of the way. It was certainly a thrilling Test match at the home of English rugby, and here are five things that you might have missed, if you were unable to get a ticket to the third round of the Autumn Internationals.
1. Rassie defuses the ‘bomb squad’ with a traditional replacements bench
A significant area of discussion came to the forefront before the ball was even kicked, as South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus decided to ditch his revered 7-1 split on the bench, for a more conventional 5-3 split of replacement forwards and backs. Erasmus made 12 changes to his team that beat Scotland up at Murrayfield, including a totally fresh back-line that were selected after the six day turnaround.
Erasmus named scrum half Cobus Reinach, fly half Handre Pollard and midfield powerhouse Lukhanyo Am as his replacement backs, in what was a move back to tradition for the South African squad. Erasmus took a step away from his trend-setting forward-heavy subs bench, with options available to cover his back-line showcasing the phenomenal squad depth of the Boks.
The first of the heavy hitting replacement ‘Boks were introduced early, as Ox Nche was withdrawn with a nasty cut on his leg. The replacement loose-head was Gerhard Steenekamp, and the Vodacom Bulls man did not last the duration as he was sent to the sin bin in the latter stages of the second half. Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch were deployed in the second half, albeit five minutes either side of one another’s introduction.
2. South Africa enjoy their second home at the Allianz Stadium
Before this afternoon’s battle with Steve Borthwick’s side, the Springboks had recently established a second home of sorts in South West London’s stadium, with the heat turned up on more than the pre-match ‘braai’. There was an incredible presence of South African supporters, with an ex-pat army of green and gold fans generating quite the ‘lekker’ atmosphere in the home of English Rugby.
The significant population of Springboks fans rang out cries of ‘Bokke, Bokke!’, with the trains rolling into Twickenham Station jam-packed with the iconic colours and logos of the rainbow nation. Such an incredible Springbok support in London was also witnessed this past Summer, and ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The Boks had the home-field support for their heavy win against Wales, and their record-setting triumph over the All Blacks at the Allianz Stadium.
The South African national anthem was a thing of beauty to behold, as the Allianz Stadium had a special guest singer for the visiting side’s song. Britian’s Got Talent finalist Innocent Masuka performed the National Anthem of South Africa, in what was first for the Autumn Series. For the first two Tests it had only been ‘God Save the King’ which had a mic’d up lead singer, with singer and songwriter Kuill getting the honours to lead the capacity crowd ahead of kick-off.
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