England’s rugby team were completely hammered by South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday, losing 42-6. Ouch. In these two encounters between the sides – available on Vision Sport now – England fared a little better.  

World Cup 2003: England 25 South Africa 6

England rarely go into anything as favourites and when they do it’s normally their cue to fail miserably. At least, though, the nation’s sports fans have developed a healthy pessimism when big tournaments come around, which makes any success even more enjoyable. So it was nice to see Clive Woodward’s men keep to the form book in 2003.  

IRB World Cup 2003: England v South Africa

World Cup final 2007: England 6 South Africa 15

Just gloss over the group match in which South Africa taught England a lesson harder than double chemistry and head straight to the final. England defied the doomsayers by pushing Bryan Habana and his chums all the way, arguably playing the more attractive rugby and coming within centimetres of scoring the try (pictured above) that may have turned the tie. England eventually lost 15-6 but since Australia and France were humbled along the way they still had reason to be cheerful. Luckily, you can watch all three matches on Vision Sport.

IRB World Cup 2007 final: England v South Africa
IRB World Cup 2007: England v Australia
IRB World Cup 2007: England v France

That’s not the only classic world cup rugby on Vision Sport either: 

Classic IRB World Cup 2007 matches

And if you liked that, you might enjoy these:

South Africa’s Greatest Tri-Nations Victories
A Decade of the Tri-Nations
Union Game: A Rugby History
The Big Interview: Will Carling
The Big Interview: Martin Corry
A Decade of the Super 12s