White: 'Boks can't compete physically'

The rugby world must have taken a collective gasp on Saturday after Springbok coach Jake White revealed that his team could not compete physically with the English after the Boks slumped to 32-16 loss to England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Those words have surely never been uttered before, but a disconsolate White was speaking after having to endure the spectacle of his team being pushed around by a dominant English pack, the exact opposite to what many punters had expected from the game.

"England were superb," said White.

"They dominated us physically at all the contact situations. They simply smashed us off the ball and we need to now take a step up."

You cannot fault White in his assumptions. The Boks were never allowed to play on Saturday with only flanker Schalk Burger prepared to put his body on the line at the breakdown, and the youngster was once again seemingly singled out by the referee.

But White's comments were damning of the team's physical preparation, although who is to blame for that is anybody's guess.

"I can't question the guy's commitment to win, but it was like watching men versus boys - Matrics playing against Standard Eights," said the former school teacher.

"We have a young team and we need to now take a look at ourselves.

"The perception here [England] is that we come here with our big South African men and smash everyone, but physically we cannot compete."