South Africa launched their Nations Championship campaign with a 45-21 victory over England at Ellis Park on Saturday, running in seven tries despite an unconvincing middle passage that briefly revived memories of last August's Wallaby capitulation on the same ground.
The Boks were forced into two significant late pack changes, with Pieter-Steph du Toit shifting to lock and assuming the captaincy in the absence of Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth. That reshuffle brought Paul de Villiers in for his Test debut at openside flank, with Cameron Hanekom — who had previously managed only a brief cameo against Wales — starting at No 7.
The debutant changes looked anything but unsettling early on. The Boks raced to a 17-0 lead inside the opening quarter, with Thomas du Toit crossing in the third minute after Damian Willemse drove at the England line, Cheslin Kolbe finishing off a Ox Nche break set up by De Villiers and Damian de Allende, and Willemse then releasing Kurt-Lee Arendse for the third. Kolbe, preferred to Manie Libbok with the boot, converted twice.
England hit back sharply, however, and the Boks' lineout disintegrated in the second quarter, costing them both possession and momentum. The visitors clawed it back to 17-14 at half-time, a scoreline that carried uncomfortable echoes of the second-half collapse against Australia at this venue last year. The Boks also lost Nche to injury early on, Gerhard Steenekamp coming off the bench to replace him.
The second half was a different story. With their first scrum feed not arriving until ten minutes after the restart, the Boks nonetheless reasserted control and added four more tries to put the result beyond doubt. Bench replacement Ben-Jason Dixon got in on the scoresheet after Erasmus rang the changes, capping a positive afternoon for all three of the younger loosies.
Willemse was the standout performer across the full 80 minutes, his footwork and decision-making in space a constant threat to England's defensive line. De Villiers impressed as a ball-carrier — not merely the fetcher he is known as at franchise level — while Hanekom was equally effective before making way for Dixon. Du Toit led with authority and was characteristically dominant throughout.
The performance was not without blemish — the lineout wobble and the narrow half-time margin will be areas Erasmus addresses — but a 24-point winning margin on the opening weekend of the international season, with two debutants in the pack and the regular skipper and most-capped player absent, represents a solid foundation for the campaign ahead.