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England still Boked

BOK STAMPEDE: Springboks' Ruan Pienaar passes while being tackled by England's Jamie Noon at Twickenham on Saturday. 22/11/2008. © Sportzpics/Second Left Images. Pic. Andrew Fosker.
BOK STAMPEDE: Springboks' Ruan Pienaar passes while being tackled by England's Jamie Noon at Twickenham on Saturday. 22/11/2008. © Sportzpics/Second Left Images. Pic. Andrew Fosker.

LONDON - England manager Martin Johnson admitted his team had been given "a lesson" after a crushing 42-6 defeat by world champions South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday.

LONDON - England manager Martin Johnson admitted his team had been given "a lesson" after a crushing 42-6 defeat by world champions South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday.

The 36-point losing margin was the worst the Red Rose had ever suffered on home soil since their first Test in England in 1872.

The gap was the same as South Africa achieved in beating England 36-0 in a World Cup pool match in France last year before going on to defeat them 15-6 in the final.

But while the World Cup final didn't feature a single try, this match saw the Springboks score five through flyhalf Ruan Pienaar, openside flanker Danie Rossouw, outside centre Adrian Jacobs, replacement back Jaque Fourie and star wing Bryan Habana.

Pienaar also landed three penalties and three conversions for a total match haul of 20 points with South Africa's other score coming from a conversion by Francois Steyn.

All England had to show for their efforts were two first-half penalties from Danny Cipriani.

"They gave us a lesson in certain areas of the game, especially finishing," said Johnson.

"The players are pretty desolate. A defeat like this at home is hard to take."

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said: "We were brilliant with the ball in hand and we were brilliant without the ball." - Sapa-AFP

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