South Africa profit from England's inexperience as Chris Robshaw errs - The Guardian (blog)

When the whistle went, a few boos rang around Twickenham. They weren't deafening, but were loud enough of them to overwhelm the cheers of the hundreds of happy South Africans in the stands. Their side lost by a point, and yet the English fans still found so much to be complain about. Last week, England had copped criticism for spurning shots at goal when they had the chance. Seven days later, it was the reverse.

With two minutes to play and his team trailing by four points, Chris Robshaw chose to let Owen Farrell take a shy at goal from a penalty. That left his team one point down, with 90 seconds to play. "I thought 'take the three' and there will be enough time to get it back for a drop goal'," Robshaw said.

There wasn't, and in there was never likely to be. The Springboks are too smart, and too savvy to cough up possession from the re-start in such circumstances.

Robshaw must feel damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. But he still has a lot more to learn about captaincy.

The point is not that his critics would always have him kick in such circumstances, nor that they think he should always go for the corner. Rather it's that winning matches, especially in conditions as difficult as these, depends on being cool enough to make the right decision. "T-CUP", as Sir Clive Woodward used to call it, or "total control under pressure", is a quality that comes with experience. Robshaw is still raw, and he got it wrong, which makes it two weeks in a row.

That was just one of a series of mistakes that marred what was otherwise a competent and credit-worthy performance. England made 16 handling errors, more than three times as many as the opposition, and lost three lineouts in the first half, entirely out-manoeuvred by a South African unit that has not lost a single one of its own throws in three Tests on this tour. They seemed small errors, but they were costly ones. And in combination they explain the result. But make no mistake, this was an improvement, at least, on last week's loss to Australia.

Not that you would have known it judging by the reaction of the crowd. It took half an hour for the grumbles to start, those hardy Twickenham perennials about how the players should be trying to keep the ball in hand rather than booting it downfield. Each kick was accompanied by an exasperated shouts of "No!" from the pitch-side chorus, as though one more pass would likely have unlocked the South Africa defence rather than simply sent another man lumbering into contact.

As the second half went on, the cries gave way to groans of dissatisfaction, and, eventually, shrieks of imprecation. England's fans live in frustrated expectation. They should know better. Expecting running rugby in a Test against South Africa would be a futile business at the best of times, on a day like this, under slate grey skies and on a rain-sodden pitch, it was a little like turning up to a braai barbecue and asking where the chef where the tofu and beansprouts are.

Out on Grimwood Road before the match a street preacher stood under an umbrella, rattling on about the end of days to an uninterested queue of hungry Bokke fans waiting patiently for a boerewors from the smoking grill, which spat fat and steam up into the rain. South Africa had been thinking about a Flood too, only it was the one playing at No10 rather than the biblical kind.

South Africa's head coach, Heyneke Meyer, knows all about England's fly-half, having spent six months working with him at Leicester in 2009, and had spoken about the need to close the channel around England's No10 to deny him space to work in. And so it went: six minutes into the match Flood took the ball in England's 22, and found himself under such pressure from Ruan Pienaar that he had to dummy and side-step. A neat move, but one that took him straight into a bruising tackle from man-of-the-match Duane Vermeulen.

Flood was sent to the sidelines and given a standing eight count to shrug off the ensuing concussion. He came back five minutes later, but was shaky, and Stuart Lancaster substituted him for Owen Farrell just after half-time.

By nobbling Flood, South Africa removed England's most experienced player from the match. Flood has 52 caps, making him the only player in the side with more than a half-century to his name.

It is easy to forget how inexperienced Lancaster's England side are every bit as callow as the man who leads them. The starting XV had 233 caps between them. South Africa had more than that in their backs alone. Farrell looked altogether more in control when he came on, and clawed England back into the match with the accuracy of his kicking. But he was obviously unhappy when Robshaw told him what to do with that final penalty, and tried to argue his captain out of the decision. It seems that not all Robshaw's team are so naïve when it comes to the big calls. Perhaps he should listen to them, rather than his own instincts.