A dark, wet evening in Brent is a long way from the sun and sea of Brighton. And, boy, there were not many echoes here of rugby’s greatest upset – quite possibly sport’s – bar the names of the teams and the inimitable fellow sitting in Japan’s coaching box, Eddie Jones. South Africa were 43-point favourites in 2015 and a mere 37 this time, but the reality of lopsided rugby was all too formidably asserted.
Instead, it was Wembley that echoed, the lower tier around two-thirds full. South Africa, nine of whose squad play their rugby in Japan, wanted to organise this run-out to bring together their squad from around the world before the big one next Saturday against France. As an exercise it worked well enough, the Springboks utterly dominate from start to finish, notching up nine tries in the process.
