England face Boks in D-day clash
Clive Woodward's England faced their day of destiny at Subiaco Oval as the Six Nations champions took on South Africa in a potentially explosive Pool C tussle.
Martin Johnson’s men knew that victory could open the door to next month’s World Cup final in Sydney by avoiding both New Zealand and Australia en route.
But defeat would inevitably mean a quarter-final appointment with the All Blacks, leaving South Africa to face Wales and then probably France.
England’s preparations were hit by a double injury blow yesterday, when Lions Matt Dawson and Richard Hill withdrew from the starting line-up.
Scrum-half Dawson and flanker Hill, who share 114 Test caps, were ruled out by hamstring problems, so Kyran Bracken deputised for Dawson and Leicester’s Lewis Moody packed down in the back-row alongside Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio.
Gloucester scrum-half Andy Gomarsall and Wasps flanker Joe Worsley were called on to the bench, meaning that England fielded five survivors from their 1999 World Cup quarter-final defeat against South Africa.
England were seeking their fifth successive victory against the Springboks, but South Africa had plenty of ammunition to spoil the party in front of a capacity 43,000 crowd.
Scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen, winning his 87th cap, was their talisman, while controversial captain Corne Krige returned after missing last weekend’s 72-6 victory over Uruguay because of a hamstring injury.
Prop Christo Bezuidenhoudt made his first start, and centre Jorrie Muller and full-back Jaco van der Westhuyzen also appeared in the line-up.
