England suffer heavy defeat

The tourists were blitzed 7-1 on tries - Ashwin Willemse, Bryan Habana (two), Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger, Francois Steyn and C J van der Linde crossed for the home side - with full-back Percy Montgomery kicking 23 points from 10 successful kicks.

Substitute James Simpson-Daniel claimed a consolation try for England, while Jonny Wilkinson slotted a penalty and conversion, but the tourists just had no answer.

Head coach Brian Ashton opted to leave behind players from European finalists Leicester, Wasps and Bath, but a stomach virus swept through the squad at their Johannesburg training base, ruling out the likes of David Strettle, Andy Farrell and Peter Richards.

South Africa struck first through a Percy Montgomery penalty awarded against England flanker Chris Jones, before Wilkinson uncharacteristically rifled wide a seventh-minute penalty attempt.

Debutant full-back Mike Brown required treatment following a crunching collision, and there were signs of South Africa moving up a gear when Montgomery ended a spell of excellent defensive work by slotting his second penalty for a 6-0 lead after 17 minutes.

Inevitably, England could only keep the Springboks out for so long, and two converted tries from Willemse and Habana in three minutes took South Africa out of sight.

Although Wilkinson slotted a 50-metre penalty, Montgomery completed his penalty hat-trick six minutes before the break, and then South Africa struck another blow when centre Jean de Villiers snaffled loose ball and raced 60metres to score after prop Stuart Turner spilled Mathew Tait's pass.

England suffered yet another injury setback in the second half when wing Iain Balshaw was stretchered off with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. Simpson-Daniel took his place and immediately made a mark, crossing for a well-worked corner try, converted by Wilkinson.

Flanker Burger added South Africa's fourth try 10 minutes from time - again converted by Montgomery - and England's misery was completed when a groggy Wilkinson departed to be replaced by Shaun Perry. Habana added a second try before the end, and Montgomery added his ninth successful kick before CJ van der Line completed the rout, again converted by Montgomery.