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Boks fall flat at miserable Newlands

Cape Town - If this is to be the final ever Test match at Newlands, nobody who was there on Saturday will ever forget it. 

As it happened: Springboks 10-25 England

Unfortunately, it probably won't be the rugby they remember, but rather the ghastly weather conditions. 

In the end, South Africa lost 25-10 with England far better in rain, wind and mud.

Both sides scored a try each, but the game management of the English was far superior with the Boks unable to play the free-flowing, entertaining rugby they had delivered in the first two Tests. 

The result means that South Africa win the three-match series 2-1.

In the hours building up to kick-off, it became abundantly clear that this was going to be a tough Test match for all involved. 

It rained hard - sometimes sideways - and it was windy and cold, and the English would have felt right at home by the time 17:05 came around. 

The Boks started as brightly as could have been expected, looking after the ball well in the opening stages. 

Flyhalf Elton Jantjies, under massive pressure to prove his worth as more than an attack-minded distributor, missed a penalty on 5 minutes from a relatively easy position that would have given the Boks the lead. 

Instead, Owen Farrell knocked over a straight penalty from 40m on 10 minutes to make it 3-0 to the visitors against the run of play after Chiliboy Ralepelle had infringed on the ground. 

It was always going to be a match were territory was as important as anything, and the Boks through Jantjies and Faf de Klerk looked to kick the hosts into the right areas. 

But, with the ball and ground both slippery, unforced errors characterised the Test match as neither side managed to get into many points-scoring areas. 

The only moment of real excitement in the first half came when Warrick Gelant released Jesse Kriel after a turnover. The Bok No 13 broke down the right flank before offloading to S'bu Nkosi, who kicked ahead to put the English defence under pressure before Jonny May cleaned up for the hosts. 

Jantjies, meanwhile, was beginning to have a nightmare. 

He kicked out on the full and then dropped a routine pass with no pressure on him that resulted in an England penalty right in front. 

Farrell knocked it over and England were 6-0 ahead. 

The Boks did manage to get on the board on the stroke of half-time when Jantjies slotted an easy penalty, but the first 40 minutes in general were forgettable. 

Another handling error from Jantjies straight after the restart put the Boks under pressure again, and once more Farrell punished them from the resulting penalty to put England 9-3 ahead. 

The Boks, though, would soon have something to celebrate. 

Coach Rassie Erasmus changed the entire front row, and Steven Kitshoff immediately set off on some explosive runs that had the Boks on the front foot. 

The try came from Kriel, who had been the one South African backline player to impress, after a clever stab through from Gelant. 

Jantjies converted from the left touchline, and the Boks were ahead for the first time in the match, 10-9. 

It didn't last long, and Farrell's fourth penalty of the night - this time from a testing distance, made it 12-10 to England.

After Farrell had kicked another penalty to make it 15-10, the struggling Jantjies was removed from the Newlands turf before the hour mark.

Erasmus had said in the week that he didn’t like substituting his flyhalf, but that goes to show just how poor Jantjies was on the day.

The conditions were not suitable for the type of rugby he likes to play, but there can be no excuses for what Jantjies dished up on Saturday.

With Handre Pollard on, the Boks set about staging another comeback.

But, in the final quarter of the match, England's experience in wet conditions came to the fore as they dominated territory and were simply better with their kicking execution. 

It was the boot that set up their only try of the game on 72 minutes when Danny Cipriani kicked ahead for May to finish well in the right corner. 

Farrell converted from the touchline, and at 22-10 the Boks were buried. 

Another Farrell penalty was the final nail in the South African coffin, with the England No 12 scoring 20 points on the night.

Follow @LloydBurnard on Twitter ...

Scorers:

SA 10 (3)

Try: Jesse Kriel

Conversion: Elton Jantjies

Penalty: Jantjies

England 25 (6)

Try: Jonny May

Conversion: Owen Farrell

Penalties: Farrell (6)

Teams:

South Africa

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 S'bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Embrose Papier 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux

England

15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Mike Brown, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler

Substitutes: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Sam Simmonds, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Denny Solomona

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