England v South Africa:An ill wind threatens to blow through Twickenham in every sense this afternoon. If the meteorologists are right it is a day for clinging on grimly to hats, high balls and, in a couple of cases, highly paid jobs. Depending on the result, at least one of the head coaches can expect to reap a whirlwind.
It may already be too late for Jake White. Springbok coaches do not usually get summoned back home mid-tour to discuss the English weather.
Even if his team scrape a narrow win today, an enforced meeting with the presidents of South Africa's provincial unions in Cape Town next Wednesday does not bode well. Seven defeats in 11 Tests this year is not the most robust of protective shields.
At least White's captain John Smit was talking up his team's prospects yesterday: "We gave that Test match away last week - it was almost a case of having it in the bag and just not tying the knot.
"If we can do for 80 minutes what we did for 75 last week, we can certainly turn it around. Getting the boys fired up for this match will probably be the easiest job I have this year.
"We have come over with a young squad and there is a huge amount of excitement and talent.
"I think, in the first Test against Ireland, we were overwhelmed by the occasion but in a week we managed to settle down and did everything except beat the scoreboard."
But what of Andy Robinson, his captain Martin Corry and the home side? Yesterday, as ever, the coach was as eager as a labrador in a West Country hedgerow.
"We're starting to gel as a team and I think it's going to be a great Test match," he said. "I regularly have honest, open and frank discussions (with the Rugby Football Union).
"I've never hidden away from anything, I've always been up front with the chief executive and the management board. The focal point has to be the South Africa game. It's not about me. I know what I'm about."
Robinson either has the thickest skin in world rugby or has convinced himself he is right and everyone else is living in a parallel universe of negativity. His record of nine wins from 21 Tests, including this year's seven-match losing streak, is no better than mediocre but a convincing success today might just ensure his presence when England kick off the Six Nations at home to Scotland in February.
For that Houdini-like escape to occur, though, his England side need to show something more than the backs-to-the-wall character and guts that hauled them back from 18-6 down last weekend.
Robinson's dream scenario involves myriad support runners on the shoulders of backs who have cut clever lines at pace, safe and secure kicking out of hand and lashings of quick ball.
In that event South Africa's lineout strength will count for relatively little, the diminutive new openside, Kabamba Floors, will have his hands full and Andre Pretorius will be seriously under the cosh at outhalf.
If all that sounds too good to be true for England's supporters, any improvement would be a step up on the brainless tactical gloop served up over the past two Saturdays. In current world terms, it is also possible to argue that today's game is the rugby equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb.
Guardian Service
