London — The Springboks are staring into the abyss and there appears no way to halt their slide to their worst season in the professional era after Saturday’s 37-21 defeat against England at Twickenham. It was the Boks’ sixth loss in 10 Tests this season and they are still winless away from home under coach Allister Coetzee. Defeat at Twickenham, in which the Boks were wholly outplayed barring short spells at the beginning and end of the match, also ended their 10-year unbeaten run against England. It is a season of continuous lowlights and with Italy to come in Florence at the weekend, that match suddenly looms as a tough encounter. Bok fortunes have fallen so far in such a short time that it is not unreasonable to be concerned about losing to Italy. To add to the alarm, the current coaching staff really do not seem to be able to pinpoint where it is going wrong. Coetzee agreed the defence was again "a bugbear", as he called it. He was also angry that the players did not handle Eng...
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