Bok centre De Allende hopes to be part of Twickenham fairytale as six-year losing streak haunts

24.11.2022 - 20:59 news24.com

In LondonThat Springbok centre Damian de Allende made his international now in 2014, yet hasn't experienced a Bok win against England at Twickenham speaks volumes as to how England has turned the tables against South Africa at their rugby headquarters.South Africa's match-day 23 for Saturday's 45th encounter against England at 200 Whitton Road only has one survivor from the 31-28 win on 15 November 2014 in Eben Etzebeth, who has crossed 100 Test caps.Due to stiffer competition at centre, De Allende hasn't been able to rack up as many caps as Etzebeth, but the missing win at Twickenham rankles.READ | Marx: Boks ready to 'empty their tanks' at TwickenhamThe Boks haven't lost in New Zealand on their past two visits before Covid-19 struck, won the World Cup by beating England in Tokyo just over three years ago, but haven't done England over at home in eight years.Before England's home streak started with the 37-21 win on 12 November 2016, the Boks hadn't lost to England at Twickenham or anywhere since 25 November 2006.De Allende, along with six other teammates, was part of the 2016 humbling during Allister Coetzee's tenure and hopes to be on the winning side this time around. READ | Flogging the Bok brand?

Fat chance as SA Rugby ramp up race for private investment"I don't think I've played against England at Twickenham and beaten them," De Allende said."I have won a game or two here, but it was against other international teams, but it would be incredible because it's always a tough encounter."They're a great team, but they've also been up and down in the past few games.

I wouldn't say it's a weakness, but in the past two games, we were very close.England15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell

Rugby England as Owen Farrell Manu Tuilagi Freddie Steward Damian De-Allende Eben Etzebeth London South Africa Tokyo New Zealand

Bulls and Springbok sensation Kurt-Lee Arendse will go up against a daunting group of national veterans for the SA Rugby Player of the Year award in a development that illustrates just how the former Blitzboks star has taken the 15-man format by storm.

Etzebeth promotes Springboks possibly joining Six Nations: 'It would be great'

Springbok fulcrum lock Eben Etzebeth, a proponent of aligning the global rugby schedule, said he’d be for the idea of South Africa joining Europe’s Six Nations tournament.

Local URC franchises get timely Bok boost

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In London

Bok coach Nienaber revels in forward dominance following England win

LONDON : South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber says the platform for the 27-13 victory over England in their autumn international at Twickenham on Saturday was laid by a powerful performance from his forwards in which they subdued the home team’s pack.

Eddie Jones defends credentials as England flop against Springboks

Eddie Jones defended his credentials after he watched England produce a rudderless display to end a difficult 2022 with a 27-13 loss to South Africa at Twickenham. Tries from Kurt-Lee Arendse and Eben Etzebeth either side of half-time helped the Springboks ease to a comfortable victory in west London with Faf de Klerk adding an 11-point haul while Damian Willemse kicked two drop goals. World champions South Africa finished with 14 men after Thomas du Toit's 61st-minute red card for a no arms tackle on Luke Cowan-Dickie but Henry Slade's late score was all England could muster during a drab finale to the Autumn Nations Series. It meant Jones' side suffered another defeat, their sixth from 12 Tests in the calendar year, which is their worst run since 2008. The Springboks' dominance across the pitch was reminiscent of their 2019 World Cup final triumph and, despite England going backwards since their runners-up showing in Japan, their Australian head coach insisted they could have a "really good go" at next year's tournament in France. "We want to win. We don't want to get beat by a big score to South Africa and don't want to have the worst record since 2008 so it is a problem but I accept full responsibility for that," Jones said. "Obviously on results we are not happy but I feel like we are building a really good base to have a really good go at the World Cup, a really good go. "A number of young players got great experience today and they'll come back better players for that. We've got other players coming back to form, some of our more senior players and we're not far away. "We need to develop consistently. Test match rugby is all about consistency."