“Not as good as a garage pie,” was Edwill van der Merwe’s assessment of the sausage roll he wolfed down before the kick-off between the Springboks and England at Twickenham this past Saturday.
The result, however, was much more tasteful to the 28-year-old as he enjoyed the Boks beating a stubborn England 29-20 from the bleachers. Van der Merwe has found memories of Twickers. After all, he made his debut there earlier this year in a Player of the Match performance against Wales. On that day, he scored a brace of tries, too, in a 41-13 triumph.
An unfortunate injury curtailed his Test season then, so although he admittedly enjoyed the fan experience this past weekend – bar that unsavoury pie – his head was no doubt filled with ambitions of once again wearing the Green and Gold and running out onto the pitch as a Bok.
“It was incredible to watch the Boks,” he said. “It was my first time at Twickenham as a fan.
“There was a lot of gees and I enjoyed all of the South African supporters that were there. The most important thing is that the Boks won and that will boost morale. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
“That is the goal,” he added, regarding earning another national call-up. “I am working towards it with my team (the Lions) in the United Rugby Championship, to get back into the Boks mix and, hopefully, get more Test caps for SA.”
Just behind Van der Merwe sat another alumni of the Bok setup, former assistant coach Gary Gold – winner of the 2007 Rugby World Cup and 2009 British and Irish Lions Tour. He watched on keenly, following the ebb and flow of a game that was in the balance until the final 10 minutes.
The general consensus from the plentiful and boisterous Bok support that hiked down Chertsey Road towards the stadium before kick-off, was that the Boks would easily overcome the Old Enemy. Indeed, fretful English supporters lamented a similar sentiment.
The English, however, made a fist of the encounter, taking the early lead, then staying with two points by half-time, before retailing the lead 20-19 early in the second half. It was only truly in the 62nd minute, when Cheslin Kolbe stepped his way to the tryline, that the congregated Bok fans felt secure in victory, while the rest of the cauldron cursed their team’s inability to convert their chances.
Truthfully, the Boks were also not as sharp as they could have been.
“It pretty much went according to plan,” was Gold’s assessment after the match.
“We all anticipated that England would come out ferociously and I think they did ... They are getting a lot of criticism and they will look back at November and will see three losses against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa but I think they were in with a shout in all three of those games.
“We were relentless in our pressure,” he continued. “I do not think that we were at our very best. And there were a couple little issues.
“We expected our scrums to operate a lot more efficiently than it actually did. There were a couple of penalties either way. The line-out went a little awry, although it wasn't too much of an issue. We made a lot of handling errors.
“I don’t think it was a polished performance but we are blooding a lot of players at the moment and we have a huge pool. You can argue that we could probably put two teams on the field who would, on balance, be as good as each other.
“Job done, is how Rassie will feel.”
Although the Boks were once again not at their best – they battled against Scotland the previous week, too – they called upon their vast experience and winning mentality to close out the game once more. That was, perhaps, the biggest difference between the two nations on the night – a team that knows how to win against one that is desperate to win.
“Confidence is a funny thing,” Gold agreed. “England played pretty well. They made a lot of mistakes. They are going to overthink things, they are going to find the pressure overwhelming.
“The Springboks didn’t panic … There is a huge amount of confidence in the group, and in their ability to get the job done. It must be said that this England team, if the media don’t put too much pressure on them and they don’t make rash changes, is going to be good in the 2027 World Cup,” he concluded.