Saxons punish sloppy SA 'A'
England held a comfortable 22-3 lead at the break, and despite being outscored 21-10 in the final 40 minutes, the boot of Danny Cipriani - accompanied by some slick counter-attacking and excellent work at the breakdown - kept the visitors' nose ahead.
The South African "A" side may have dominated the opening exchanges but had nothing to show for it as numerous handling errors and misplaced passes led to a high rate of possession changing hands. However, it would be the home side who would take the lead in the ninth minutes.
Garth April attempted a 48-metre penalty and struck it beautifully to split the uprights and break the deadlock. It was all SA "A" from that point as the loose trio of Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Tebogo Mohoje and Nizaam Carr were dominating around the ruck and poking holes in the Saxons' defence.
England Saxons grabbed the opening try of the match with 16 minutes gone when they benefitted from an interception lose to halfway. The counter-attack was swift and direct. A few quickly recycled breakdowns led to the ball finding prop Alec Hepburn on the left touchline and the prop has an easy trot over the line.
Danny Cipriani made no mistake with the extras to hand the Saxons a 7-3 lead.
Saxons began to settle and were starting to ask questions of the SA "A" defence but the home side stood tall and thwarted numerous attacks. Something had to give though and an infringement by centre Francois Venter led to Cipriani being able to extend his side's lead to seven points, with a successfully goaled penalty kick. Saxons led 10-3 after 25 minutes.
The visitors were looking more dangerous as they maintained possession for longer periods, however, they were most dangerous in loose play and punished their hosts on two occasions in four minutes.
The home side were not finding their team mates with their offloads and a turnover inside their 22 allowed the Saxons to run the ball out. The ball reached Semesa Rokoduguni on the right touchline and the wing produced a moment of magic.
He received the ball on his 10 metre line and set off down the touchline. He beat three defenders, then chipped ahead over Leolin Zas' head, chased the ball down and easily dotted the ball down. Cipriani added the extras.
Four minutes later and scrumhalf Dan Robson punished the hosts after some sloppy play. Once again, the offloading was poor and the Saxons intercepted the ball close to the halfway line. Robson got the better of three cover defenders, weaving inside and out, before scoring. Cipriani failed to add the extras but England Saxons' lead was 22-3 after 34 minutes.
The home side came out firing and got their first try of the match in the 50th minute. Sustained pressure on the Saxons defence saw them plug away inside their 22 and Francois Brummer, with just his second touch of the match, stepped his way through the visitors' defence to score.
He duly added the conversion to reduce the deficit to 10-22.
The Saxons came back at the home side and were awarded a penalty in the 54th minute when Coenie Oosthuizen was penalised at the breakdown. Cipriani stepped up and split the uprights to make it 15-point game.
The home side had their tails up and their replacements brought plenty of fire onto the field. It was another replacement, Piet van Zyl, who brought the home side back into the game with a 64th minute try after some enterprising play. Brummer slotted the conversion to leave his side trailing 17-25 after 65 minutes.
The momentum shift was easy to see and the Saxons were making more mistakes, one of which was punished by a swift SA "A" counter-attack. It started with a turn over on their 22 before the home side sent the ball wide. A neat chip up field was chased down by Mohoje, who passed to Notshe on his inside and the flank ran 30 metres to grab a deserved try.
Brummer made no mistake with the extras to see the home side trail by a solitary point with nine minutes remaining in the encounter.
However, the result was put to bed with two minutes remaining when the Saxons produced another good team effort that lead to a chip and chase, and try by inside centre Ollie Devoto.
That proved to be the final nail in the home side's coffin.
Man of the match: JD Schickerling may have struggled to get his timing going with his hooker, however, he was in good form when it came to stealing line-out ball. Francois Brummer, Piet van Zyl and Rudolph Snyman made an immense impact when they came onto the field. For England, their loose trio of Sam Jones, Matt Kvesic and Don Armand worked their socks off while Nick Tompkins was full value in midfield. Semesa Rokoduguni showed just how dangerous he is with ball in hand. However, our award goes to a player who was simply all over the park and could not put a foot wrong for the entire 80 minutes - Sikhumbuzo Notshe.
Moment of the match: Seven tries may have been scored but only one stands out. It came in the 30th minute and displayed raw speed and an excellent individual effort. Semesa Rokoduguni received the ball on his 10-metre line, stepped off his right foot - beating three defenders in the process - chipped the ball ahead and raced after it. He gathered and scored quite a brilliant try.
Villain of the match: None.
Scorers:
For South Africa A:
Tries: Brummer, van Zyl, Notshe
Cons: Brummer 3
Pen: April
For England Saxons:
Tries: Hepburn, Rokoduguni, Robson, Devoto
Cons: Cipriani 3
Pens: Cipriani 2
Teams:
South Africa A: 15 Leolin Zas, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Garth April, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Teboho Mohoje (captain), 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 John Schickerling, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Rudolph Snyman, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Lukhanyo Am.
England Saxons: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Semesa Rokoduguni, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Don Armand, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Dave Attwood (captain), 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Micky Young, 22 Sam James, 23 Christian Wade.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)