South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in Nations Championship

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South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in Nations Championship

2026-07-05 04:05 Last Updated At：04:10

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — South Africa tore apart England 45-21 after a stunning three-try blastoff in Nations Championship rugby at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The shock and awe start by the Springboks for a 17-0 lead inside the first 12 minutes gave the double world champions a cushion they rode to their biggest win over England in 18 years.

The English impressively fought back to trail by only three at halftime but they succumbed to South Africa's heavy carries and ruthless finishing, and were down to 13 players at fulltime.

England has suffered five straight losses on the back of a 12-match winning streak.

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus rated the performance as “above average” after they were forced in the morning to play debutant Paul de Villiers and one-cap Cameron Hanekom in the back row, and move star flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit into lock.

Captain Siya Kolisi was ruled out by a hamstring issue and Eben Etzebeth by a head knock. England also had to reshuffle when fullback George Furbank was sidelined by appendicitis after working two years on his test recall.

“If you buy into the system and understand the system, the system will take care of the player,” Pieter-Steph du Toit said. “That’s the nice thing about us at the moment is that we’ve got a really good system.”

The late changes to the Springboks were made light of by the explosive start.

England was barely sweating when Boks fullback Damian Willemse charged the tryline and prop Thomas du Toit burrowed over in the third minute. A Willemse chip and catch was followed by prop Ox Nche shrugging off England's Ollie Chessum and Jamie George and shooting away for Cheslin Kolbe to cross in the right corner. Kolbe converted his try.

Nche left with a knee injury that Erasmus called serious but moments later Kurt-Lee Arendse swept past Marcus Smith and over in the left corner. The first three entries into the England 22 netted three rampant tries and the crowd of 52,790 was partying.

Arendse was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and his absence was exposed well by England's Fin Smith and namesake Marcus Smith to get a foothold in the game.

Stand-in skipper George had a try ruled out for being offside but teammate Ellis Genge tapped a penalty to himself and crashed over, then lock George Martin bulldozed Jasper Wiese and Kolbe to score his first try for England.

Down only 17-14, the visitors had physical momentum but in the new half they were slow out of the blocks again and South Africa was clinical.

Boks scrumhalf Grant Williams dummied and crossed for the bonus-point fourth try in the 45th minute, and Kolbe added the extras as he kicked better the longer the match went in his 50th test.

Center Jesse Kriel was next to score. The South Africa procession was interrupted by England’s Alex Coles then resumed after Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper were the visitors' ninth and 10th yellow cards this year.

South Africa completed the rout with converted tries to Malcolm Marx and Ben-Jason Dixon for their highest score and margin against England since a 42-6 result in 2008 at Twickenham.

Next Saturday, England returns home to play Fiji while South Africa hosts Scotland.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Iran begins dayslong funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in war

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of mourners began a dayslong funeral on Saturday for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, beating their chests in sorrow before the glass case containing his flag-draped coffin in Tehran and calling for revenge against Israel and the United States.

The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again. The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks appear to be on hold until it is over.

During the ceremony, Iran's top negotiator warned France and the U.K. over their comments about potentially launching joint patrols in the waterway, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime.

Mourners wept at the sight of Khamenei's coffin alongside those of his family members also killed in the airstrike, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” Some carried banners and flags. Billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.

“Imam Khamenei was our heart, our father, our everything,” mourner Masoumeh Mohammadi said. “I still can’t believe they martyred him. We will not rest until we avenge his death.”

An outdoor stage at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah, or congregation hall, at his compound in downtown Tehran. There was a chair like the one he once sat in while giving his sermons, complete with a microphone on a stand and a table next to it. Above it hung an image of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989.

Khomeini's funeral saw chaotic scenes as millions thronged his mourning ceremony and trip to the cemetery. Khamenei's death was only the second time Iran has lost a supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Saturday, volunteers sprayed cooling water on crowds in the summer heat. Men and women congregated separately inside the Grand Mosalla after being checked by metal detectors and body searches. Police with assault rifles stood guard on surrounding streets. Many people stayed outside in the street, lounging under the shade of trees because the city had shut down.

The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath Khamenei's, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The dead included the wife of Mojtaba Khamenei, whose possible appearance at the funeral remained unclear. He reportedly was wounded in the attack that killed his father and has not been seen publicly since the war began.

“We attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,” said one mourner, Ali Kazemi.

As sunset approached, the streams of people continued. “Authorities advised not to rush to the sites,” said a later visitor, Mohammad Barati. Mourners had also been advised not to stay too long, to allow others to come.

Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!” The refrain has been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis. They also cried: “Death to Israel!”

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”

The U.S. president was not forgotten in Tehran. In the crowd in Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag that read: “#KillTrump.”

As the ceremony went on, Iran's chief negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi criticized a joint statement overnight from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron which suggested their militaries stood ready to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has suggested it wants to charge vessels passing through the strait, upending decades of it being widely considered an international waterway.

“The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states — the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. “This is a serious warning.”

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei's place of birth.

Authorities offered no immediate attendance count for the event Saturday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

On Sunday, a prayer for the dead is planned at the Grand Mosalla. On Monday, Khamenei's body and those of his family will be taken through the streets of Tehran, which likely will draw large crowds.

“I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.