14-man Boks smash Twickenham bogey with convincing England win

At Twickenham in London

For the first time since 2014, a 14-man Springboks became the Lords of London, and through their deserved 27-13 win against England on a cold, but heart-warming autumn Saturday night, ended their tour on the highest of notes.

AS IT HAPPENED | England v South Africa

England's coach Eddie Jones had clearly hinted that they knew the Springboks were going to come through the front door.

That is exactly what they did as a passionate, proud and precision-like performance from the Bok forwards ensured their Twickenham bogey was well and truly smashed.

There also was Damian Willemse's measured display at flyhalf that produced two drop goals to help floor the hosts.

The Boks survived the loss to replacement prop Thomas du Toit to an unnecessary red card in the 60th minute and five missed points off the tee by Faf de Klerk on a night where they may have been slightly scrappy, but were the better side.

England's second home loss of the Autumn Nations series was greeted by loud boos from the 81 000 crowd who simply couldn't will them over the line as they did last week against New Zealand.

South Africa's forwards, and their team in general, have resilience in bucketloads. They could've lost their heads in the last 20 minutes, but exhibited a calm defensive composure that in the end, was too much for the hosts.

The result meant the Boks ended their tour with two wins from four games, which is a fair reflection of their developmental steps, but also the latent inconsistency they need to shake off.

The Boks didn't start the Test very well, but once they found their stride, they were difficult to stop.

It wasn't the best of omens when De Klerk missed six practice attempts during the warm-up, so it didn't come as a