Africa-Press – South-Africa. That Springbok centre Damian de Allende made his international now in 2014, yet hasn’t experienced a Bok win against England at Twickenham speaks volumes as to how England has turned the tables against South Africa at their rugby headquarters.
South Africa’s match-day 23 for Saturday’s 45th encounter against England at 200 Whitton Road only has one survivor from the 31-28 win on 15 November 2014 in Eben Etzebeth, who has crossed 100 Test caps.
Due to stiffer competition at centre, De Allende hasn’t been able to rack up as many caps as Etzebeth, but the missing win at Twickenham rankles.
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The Boks haven’t lost in New Zealand on their past two visits before Covid-19 struck, won the World Cup by beating England in Tokyo just over three years ago, but haven’t done England over at home in eight years.
Before England’s home streak started with the 37-21 win on 12 November 2016, the Boks hadn’t lost to England at Twickenham or anywhere since 25 November 2006.
De Allende, along with six other teammates, was part of the 2016 humbling during Allister Coetzee’s tenure and hopes to be on the winning side this time around.
“I don’t think I’ve played against England at Twickenham and beaten them,” De Allende said.
“I have won a game or two here, but it was against other international teams, but it would be incredible because it’s always a tough encounter.
“They’re a great team, but they’ve also been up and down in the past few games. I wouldn’t say it’s a weakness, but in the past two games, we were very close.
“Hopefully this year, we can turn things around.”
De Allende has been back twice with the Boks and experienced the one-point defeats of the 2018 (12-11) and the 2021 (27-26) encounters.
De Allende said they were their own worst enemies when they relinquished last year’s encounter, with the bulky midfielder saying they were impatient and inconsistent.
De Allende, smart enough not to delve into match tactics, said they need to be better composed for Saturday’s encounter.
“I don’t know, but I think last year, we played well in patches, but didn’t do so consistently enough,” De Allende said.
“Hopefully, we’ll be a lot more consistent on the field because last year, we had a few moments where we should have won the game.
“We gave away a soft try at a line out and there were a few silly penalties that we gave away. I also remember Eben Etzebeth getting a yellow card.
“It was a bit of a harsh call, but in those last 5-10 minutes, it felt like we wanted to overdo things instead of being composed.
“We have learned from that game and talked about it as a team. Hopefully, things will come right on Saturday.”
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