England outclassed by seven-try South Africa in Nations Championship

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Centre Jesse Kriel crossed for one of South Africa's seven tries By Mike Henson BBC Sport rugby union news reporter Published 35 minutes ago Nations Championship South Africa (17) 45 Tries: T du Toit, Kolbe, Arendse, Williams, Kriel, Marx, Dixon Cons: Kolbe 5 England (14) 21 Tries: George, Martin, Coles Cons: F Smith 3 South Africa once again asserted their dominance over England with a commanding victory at Ellis Park, with the outcome rarely in doubt across 80 bruising minutes. The Boks blitzed into a 17-point lead inside 11 minutes with England bewildered by the pace, muscle and cohesion of the hosts. Powerful scores from Ellis Genge and George Martin, just before half-time, ignited a glimmer of hope for England. But South Africa turned the screw after the break, scoring another three tries to canter to a fourth successive victory over England as the visitors came up well short of the gold standard set by the double reigning world champions. England's Nations Championship campaign continues against Fiji at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool on 11 July before heading back to the southern hemisphere to take on Argentina on 18 July. England feel the burn in Boks high-altitude masterclass Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Ollie Chessum finished the game as England captain with stand-in skipper Jamie George having been replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie England arrived at altitude in Johannesburg 10 days before kick-off with the aim of acclimatising early and catching the Springboks, whose last serious outing was seven months ago, cold. While England lost full-back George Furbank with appendicitis in the hours before kick-off, South Africa also had to rejig their starting line-up with Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi, keystones of the Bok pack, withdrawing late with injuries sustained earlier in the week. But, despite the disruption, the hosts opened with a blizzard of attacking brilliance that left Steve Borthwick's side reeling. With less than three minutes on the clock, prop Thomas du Toit, heading back to his homeland from Bath this summer, muscled through Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum to score from close range. Two minutes later, with England crumbling in collisions and their defence leaking line breaks, Cheslin Kolbe had acres of space out wide and duly left opposite number Cadan Murley groping at shadows with a jagging side-step. On the opposite wing, Kurt-Lee Arendse held off Marcus Smith to dive over for a third try to make it 17-0 after just 12 minutes. Ellis Park, filled to close to its 62,000 capacity after a late lowering of ticket prices, was gleeful. England, by contrast, were woeful. Even when the visitors belatedly began to play, with Fin Smith and Ben Earl making yards and Jack van Poortvliet landing a daring offload, they couldn't make it stick on the scoreboard. Captain Jamie George had a try chalked off, his opportunistic dot-down from close range ruled out for an accidental offsid