Getting the runs was a problem at Edgbaston and the same applied, in a lavatorial sense, to England's first test defeat to the Springboks on Saturday. This time it was not Jannie de Beer's boot but Jonny Wilkinson's stomach that effectively laid them low and another massive display of guts will now be required if South Africa are not to wrap up a 2-0 series win next weekend.
A patched-up side, with Austin Healey at outhalf and Tim Stimpson on the right wing, did their utmost but the loss of Wilkinson was at least as much of a factor behind England's unlucky failure to repeat their 1994 win at Loftus Versfeld as any other.
To have lost their playmaker just 90 minutes before kick-off, been deprived of a potential seven points by controversial video technology and yet still confined the Boks to their first tryless test at home in three years under Nick Mallett was no small achievement. Though this 105-minute epic ranked as one of test rugby's most extraordinary marathons, England effectively lost the game in the opening 24 minutes, all the time it took for Braam van Straaten to kick five vital penalties.
Poor discipline also cost Phil Greening 10 minutes in the sin-bin for stamping at a time when the Springboks were down to 14 men, having had Willie Meyer given a yellow card for the same offence, and the replacement Leon Lloyd's retaliatory punch on De Wet Barry was to prove costly in the last 10 fraught minutes of injury-time.
With stomach cramps having ended Martin Johnson's game prematurely, Lawrence Dallaglio's decision to ask Stimpson to kick for touch rather than goal with a couple of minutes left was a further talking point. The England manager Clive Woodward defended the call, suggesting there had been insufficient time to get back upfield, but question marks surely remain about England's tactical choices at moments of stress.
From both camps, though, there was praise for the English lineouts and scrums, where debutante Julian White excelled, and their tackling matched the tigerish defence of the South Africans. Among those who reappeared, to Woodward's chagrin, was the Springbok centre Robbie Fleck whose 20-minute absence appeared to be anything but blood-related. The charade prompted Woodward to dismiss the whole blood-bin concept as "a farce".
By that point England had fought back gallantly to 15-10, Dan Luger having scored the only try of the game in the 31st minute after initial thrusts from Greening and Mike Tindall. Stimpson's conversion and a 57th-minute penalty, though, were to be England's only other points.
Whether this Springbok side are in the same class as either the All Blacks or Wallabies is debatable but, whatever happens in Bloemfontein on Saturday, Mallett insists England can at least console themselves they are hard on the heels of the big three.
"There's nothing that separates England from the southern hemisphere," said the Springbok coach who, echoing similar thoughts than those of his captain, added that this was one of the hardest games he had been involved in. "I'd rather play against any other side in the northern hemisphere than England."
Scorers: South Africa: Penalties: Van Straaten 6. England: Try: Luger. Conversion: Stimpson. Penalties: Stimpson 2.
South Africa (Western Province unless stated): Montgomery; Paulse, Fleck (Delport; Golden Lions, 75min), Barry, Rossouw; Van Straaten, Van der Westhuizen (Blue Bulls); Kempson (Le Roux, Natal Sharks, 75), Marais, Meyer (Golden Lions), Boome (Van den Berg, Natal Sharks, 75), Otto (Blue Bulls), Erasmus (Golden Lions; Krige, 22), Venter (Free State), Vos (Golden Lions, capt).
England: Perry (Bath); Stimpson (Leicester), Tindall (Bath), Catt (Bath; Lloyd, Leicester, 74), Luger (Saracens); Healey (Leicester), Bracken (Saracens); Leonard (Harlequins), Greening (Wasps), White (Saracens), Johnson (Leicester, capt; Shaw, Wasps, 72), Grewcock (Saracens; Worsley, Wasps, 80), Hill (Saracens), Back (Leicester), Dallaglio (Wasps).
Referee: C Hawke (New Zealand).
