Clive Woodward fears for his future. The England coach believes a hostile group of Rugby Football Union (RFU) members are lobbying for his dismissal due to his scathing criticism of the southern hemisphere tour.
"Those people who agreed to England playing a Test in Auckland one Saturday and Cape Town the next must have had a couple of gins too many when they took that decision," said a bitter Woodward after England's seventh successive tour defeat.
Woodward's own record has been poor: since his appointment 10 months ago the England coach has guided his team to three wins in 15 games, the kind of failure rate that tends to prompt change. The fact that England's "tour from hell" has been made with, in effect, a B squad of relatively inexperienced players, 16 first-choice men being injured or unavailable, is bound to count in Woodward's favour, though arguably he did not get the best from limited resources.
In some ways England's 18-0 defeat by the Springboks at Newlands was their most impressive performance, certainly in commitment and organisation; at least their 76-0 defeat by Australia seemed in comparison merely a bad dream.
If Woodward were to go, John Mitchell, the assistant coach who has won the respect of the players, would be the most likely replacement given a shortage of credible candidates at home and abroad. However, Mitchell and the RFU would have to negotiate his release from a long-term contract with Sale, who would demand substantial compensation.
Whether the progressively minded Woodward has guarded his back with sufficient care must be open to doubt. Like his main RFU supporters, Fran Cotton and Cliff Brittle, he has a talent for making political enemies which frequently overshadows his creative value to English rugby.
It may be difficult to convince the RFU hawks that Woodward's record has more merit than statistics might suggest. Apart from the South African Test, in which fluent movement was impossible due to torrential rain, England have tried to play ball in hand, developing a fresh style that gives expression to the skills of a young enthusiastic squad. Static setpiece rugby has been banished.
Perhaps Woodward's greatest achievement has been his willingness to fast-track promising youngsters. The latest example, Paul Sampson, the 20-year-old Wasps wing, will have benefited greatly from making his debut against the Springboks. Josh Lewsey, the 23-year-old fly-half, is another who has had to grow up quickly in his three Tests.
Nick Mallett, the Springbok coach, put a brave face on his side's plodding performance. "England were lucky they did not meet us on a dry pitch, otherwise we would have put 50 points on them," declared Mallett with a one-eyed awareness that suggested he had just been watching a video fantasy game.
Woodward picked up on Mallett's ill-chosen remark. "It's nice to know the Springbok coach thinks there is a 50-point difference between the sides; we'll store that in our memory bank until we meet at Twickenham in December," he promised. Mallett had no need to depart from statistics - South Africa won the line-outs 25-6 and denied England a single scoring chance in the final half.
Even so, Woodward was entitled to claim that the Springboks seemed no more than mere mortals in most phases of forward play. Ben Clarke and Tony Diprose lent genuine credibility to England's work around the fringes, while the front-row forwards, especially Phil Vickery, went from strength to strength.
Once again Matt Dawson, the tour captain, imposed his authority at scrum-half, at one stage even driving Gary Teichmann into touch to save a probable try. Woodward, though, did not say whether Dawson will keep the captaincy when England play World Cup qualifying games against Holland and Italy at Huddersfield in November.
The England captain Matt Dawson was unable to prevent Joost van der Westhuizen from charging down an attempted clearance by Lewsey to gain a 21st-minute lead with a score in the left corner.
The Springboks' one movement of indisputable quality came in the 37th minute when the ball was cleared from a scrum on the left, allowing Henry Honiball to put Stefan Terblanche over in the right.
Percy Montgomery put the game beyond reach with a couple of short-range penalty goals. Certainly England finished brightly - but will that be sufficient to keep the volatile Woodward in his job?
South Africa: Snyman, Muller, Rossouw, Honiball, van der Westhuizen, Kempson, Dalton, Garvey, Otto, Andrews, Erasmus, Venter, Teichmann. Replacements: Le Roux for Kempson (75 mins).
England: Perry, Brown, Beal, Baxendell, Sampson, Lewsey, Dawson, Rowntree, Cockerill, Vickery, Sims, Fidler, Clarke, Sanderson, Diprose. Replacements: Stimpson for Sampson (56 mins).
Referee: C Hawke (New Zealand).
