Battered England pass their physical

England 53 South Africa 3

England duly completed an historic triple crown over the southern hemisphere's superpowers, a hapless and at times brutal South Africa swiftly following in the footsteps of New Zealand and Australia at the impregnable Red Rose Nursery. At least the All Blacks and the Wallabies had the consolation of scoring more tries than England in two cliffhangers. Yesterday the Springboks, who had their lock Jannes Labuschagne sent off midway through the first half, were driven over the cliff, and given a considerable shove by the England pack and the referee, Paddy O'Brien.

Phil Vickery, a member of a completely dominant front row, was named England's man of the match but the South Africans would probably argue that O'Brien was a contender. Certainly the New Zealander did the Boks no favours, but then their performance gave him little choice. As a serious contest it was over from the 22nd minute when Labuschagne hit Jonny Wilkinson with a late, high shoulder charge. The stand-off went down on his back and Labuschagne got a red card.

For England, it was like inviting Tiger Woods to drive from the ladies' tee. Under the circumstances a yellow card might have sufficed, but as it was Labuschagne entered the hall of infamy, the first South African to be sent off at Twickenham. England, already 8-0 in front, proceeded to exploit their superiority to the full, compiling a record victory – their 18th in succession at headquarters – with seven tries, including a dubious penalty try.

The Springboks, who went down to their heaviest-ever defeat, were determined to take a few men with them and England paid a heavy price in an otherwise thumping and comprehensive victory. Hurt and cornered, the Springboks introduced a physically punishing element to their game and as the casualties mounted, England lost both half-backs, Wilkinson and Matt Dawson, and the flanker Lewis Moody, all to shoulder injuries.

Wilkinson, who recovered from the attentions of Labuschagne, did not survive a challenge from Butch James, who knocked the sundance out of the kid with a high, late tackle a few minutes into the second half. Cue Austin Healey for his 50th cap, but he soon lost the services of Dawson, who was stopped in his tracks by the Springboks' captain, Corne Krige.

"There was a lot of stuff going on off the ball," Clive Woodward, the England manager, said. "Before losing my head I would like to study a video of the match in the cold light of day. It was a very physical contest.''

Where Mr O'Brien was inconsistent was in his employment of the video official, Jim Fleming. Ben Cohen scored his 19th try in 21 appearances when he shadowed a Dawson break from a scrum. The scrum-half offloaded to Lawrence Dallaglio (Moody's replacement), linked with Mike Tindall and Cohen took the latter's pass in a swift move that had him hurtling for the right-hand corner. Grounded short, he stretched out his right hand to plant the ball over. It was a classic case for an adjudication from the video referee, but O'Brien signalled the try.

A few minutes later Cohen, who scored two tries against Australia last week from the left wing – yesterday he was on the right to accommodate Phil Christophers – appeared on the left flank, where he outjumped Breyton Paulse from a Wilkinson cross-kick. This time Mr Fleming was asked to study the incident and ruled that Cohen had knocked on.

Even before Labuschagne's departure, the South African pack, who en masse had fewer caps than the England prop Jason Leonard, was in trouble at the scrum, where James Dalton was fighting a losing battle. The tone had been set early on when Krige produced a stunning tackle on Jason Robinson which was followed by a tussle between Dawson and Dalton. Even after a few minutes the Springboks were being penalised for crooked feeds at scrums they knew they could not win.

As the temperature rose England were not entirely innocent, Dalton feeling the effects of a gratuitous stamp on his ankle by the England captain, Martin Johnson. Wilkinson was soon resuming normal service, slotting over a simple penalty made even simpler by Robbie Fleck conceding another 10 metres.

Reduced to 14 men, South Africa, who had also lost their half-backs, were taken apart. After a series of punishing scrums, Dallaglio, Dawson and Wilkinson combined to put Will Greenwood over at the posts following a powerful inside break, and when Steve Thompson ran into the referee, Mr O'Brien awarded England a penalty which Wilkinson kicked to make it 18-3 at half-time.

Two minutes after the re-start Greenwood was over again, this time beneath a pile of green jerseys, and after the replay had been studied on the video the touchdown was allowed.

At one point four England players were receiving treatment, including Christophers, who was often on the receiving end of England attacks, not to mention Springbok tackling. In the 60th minute he appeared on the right wing, maintaining a move in which Ben Kay and Vickery were prominent, and as he made a beeline for the corner the Bristol wing was collared by Werner Greeff's high tackle. The South African full-back received a lecture and, to make matters worse, conceded a penalty try. It was debatable for it was by no means certain that Christophers would have scored.

England, who had never scored more than four tries against the Springboks, continued the onslaught, subjecting the South African forwards to all manner of grief. Neil Back was the beneficiary, as he so often is with Leicester, of an unstoppable rolling maul and then Richard Hill latched on to a Healey cross-kick in the right-hand corner.

By this stage England's players were looking nervously over their shoulders after delivering passes – they wisely elected to continue the punishment through their forwards. In stoppage time another rolling maul resulted in Dallaglio touching down. There was no respite for the Springboks, not even from England's second-, third- and fourth-choice goal-kickers. After Wilkinson's departure Dawson landed a conversion from the touchline, and after he too had left, Andy Gomarsall and then Tim Stimpson did likewise.

In 12 months' time the countries clash again in the World Cup in Australia. "That's more important than this one," Rudi Straeuli, the Springboks coach, said. As far as Woodward is concerned, the triumph was another psychological pointer on the road to his ultimate goal, English hands on the Webb Ellis Cup.

England 53 South Africa 3
Tries: Cohen, Greenwood 2, Pen: Pretorius
Penalty try, Back, Hill, Dallaglio
Cons: Wilkinson, Dawson, Gomarsall 2, Stimpson 2
Pens: Wilkinson 2

Half-time: 18-3 Attendance: 76,000

Team line-ups

England: J Robinson (Sale); B Cohen (Northampton), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Tindall (Bath), P Christophers (Bristol); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson (Northampton); J Leonard (Harlequins), S Thompson (Northampton), P Vickery (Gloucester), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), B Kay (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester). Replacements: T Stimpson for Greenwood, 70, A Healey for Wilkinson, 43, A Gomarsall for Dawson, 57, D Grewcock for Kay, 70, L Dallaglio for Moody, 14.

South Africa: W Greeff (W Province); B Paulse (W Province), R Fleck (W Province), B James (Natal), F Lombard (Free State); A Pretorius (Lions), J Conradie (W Province); W Roux (Natal), J Dalton (Natal), D Carstens (Natal), J Labuschagne (Lions), AJ Venter (Natal), C Krige (W Province, capt), J van Niekerk (Lions), P Wannenburg. Replacements: B Russell for Paulse, 48, A Jacobs for Pretorius, 54, N Jordaan for Conradie, 10, L van Biljon for Dalton, 54, CJ van der Linde for Carstens, 61.

Referee: P O'Brien (New Zealand).