The grand design left in tatters

England's new era of open rugby gets off to an inauspicious start as flying Williams inspires the world champions

England 14 South Africa 24

Try: De Glanville Tries: Williams 2, Van der Westhuizen

Pens: Callard 3 Pens: Stransky 3

IF THIS is the new age of rugby, then please God may we be transported back to those hours which are darkest before the dawn. If the result was intensely disappointing for England, it was not entirely unexpected. What had not been generally anticipated, however, was the quality of England's performance, which was as wretched as any they have produced since their rise from the ashes of the 1987 World Cup. What began as a journey of promise and high hope ended in shambolic disarray, the grand design for open rugby in tatters.

What made it even worse was that the Springboks, jaded by an unbroken diet of competitive rugby and visibly tiring as the match wore on, were scarcely recognisable as world champions. They did, of course, have a supremely well-organised defence, a mighty scrum, Chester Williams, that most irrepressible of wingers with two tries, and the brilliance of Joost van der Westhuizen, whose great escape down the blindside through some less than wholehearted tackling, broke England at the start of the second half.

It would have taken some performance to have dulled the enthusiasm of a capacity crowd hell-bent on the twin celebration of the opening of the new West Stand and the prospect of watching the new-found enterprise of the national side. But somehow England managed it.

They had everything to gain but very little to offer. Ben Clarke was robustly involved from first to last, Martin Bayfield, whom the Springboks had feared above all and who caused them their most serious moments of concern throughout the match, provided a stream of good line-out ball, and Jeremy Guscott and Will Carling - until he was carried off with concussion late in the game - strove to break free from the Springboks defence and the shackles imposed upon them by their own colleagues and collective strategy.

Mike Catt learned the oldest and harshest of lessons that heroic deeds carry infinitely less weight than brave and vainglorious words. He had placed an intolerable burden on himself with his pre-match remarks which not even his undoubted talent could surmount. He may, too, be less likely in future to criticise Rob Andrew on a day when his kicking carried neither the weight nor the authority to channel England's haphazard attacks and give some much-needed relief to his beleaguered forwards. The flurry of movement which illuminated England's play after Carling's departure and in which Catt was prominently involved was too little and much too late.

Tim Rodber was another hopelessly out of sorts. He has rampaged through the Second Division but yesterday found the gulf in class unbridgeable. When England did stretch the Springboks they suffered from a genuine lack of pace on one wing and downright doziness on the other. Damien Hopley opened up some interesting possibilities on the right but lacked the blistering speed to clinch the deal. On the left, Rory Underwood was a convulsive wreck. He knocked on Guscott's pass in a promising situation and was then involved in a calamitous mix-up with Carling which led to Williams's first try, surely as simple a one as he had scored in his international career.

It was rough justice because earlier in the first half Williams had been denied what seemed a perfectly valid score by the referee, Jim Fleming, who ruled that he had not grounded the ball properly. The television evidence suggested otherwise.

Williams's first try took South Africa 11-6 ahead, a lead they never looked like relinquishing. Jon Callard and Joel Stransky had previously kicked two penalties apiece, but with the Springboks starting to lose their discipline and becoming infuriated by their own inadequate decision-making, there were chances for England, whose best spell came just before half-time. Under pressure, the Springboks' defence was stretched although they were never seriously inconvenienced.

It was Van der Westhuizen, a minute after half-time, who finished the match as a contest. The Springbok scrum-half has proved time and again that he has no peer as a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. The ball fell kindly for him from the feet of his forwards, just inside the England half, near the right touchline. In a flash he was off and, with the deftest of kicks past Underwood, beat Catt in the race for the line.

Callard and Stransky swapped penalties before Williams scored his second try after an orthodox move and Andre Joubert's deliciously angled kick behind the England backs. Phil de Glanville, who was on for Carling, scored England's sole try in injury-time, but to attempt to squeeze consolation from this would be as foolishly optimistic as those who believed England were on the verge of a bold future.

ENGLAND: J Callard (Bath), D Hopley (Wasps), W Carling (Harlequins, capt), J Guscott (Bath), R Underwood (Leicester), M Catt (Bath), K Bracken (Bristol), J Leonard (Harlequins), M Regan (Bristol), V Ubogu (Bath), M Johnson (Leicester), M Bayfield (Northampton), T Rodber (Northampton), A Robinson (Bath), B Clarke (Bath). Replacements: L Dallaglio (Wasps) for Rodber, 88; P de Glanville (Bath) for Carling, 63.

SOUTH AFRICA: A Joubert (Natal), J Olivier (Northern Transvaal), J Mulder (Transvaal), H LeRoux (Transvaal), C Williams (Western Province), J Stransky (Western Province), J Van Der Westhuizen (Northern Transvaal), A Van Der Linde (Western Province), J Dalton (Transvaal), T Laubscher (Western Province), J Wiese (Transvaal), M Andrews (Natal), R Kruger (Northern Transvaal), F Van Heerden (Western Province), F Pienaar (Transvaal, capt). Replacements: J Small (Natal) for Olivier, 47; R Straeuli (Transvaal) for Kruger, 63.

Referee: J Fleming (Scotland).