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07/04 13:16 CDT South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in Nations Championship South Africa rips England after a stunning 3-try blitz start in Nations Championship 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 by halftime but they succumbed to South Africa's heavy carries and ruthless finishing, and were down to 13 players at fulltime. England was barely sweating when Boks fullback Damian Willemse charged the tryline and prop Thomas du Toit burrowed over. 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 injured and moments later Kurt-Lee Arendse swept past Marcus Smith and went over in the left corner. The first three entries into the England 22 netted three tries. The explosive start made light of the late forced changes by the Springboks. Captain Siya Kolisi was ruled out by an ankle strain and Eben Etzebeth reportedly by concussion. England also had to reshuffle when fullback George Furbank was sidelined by appendicitis after working for two years for his test recall. Furbank's replacement, Marcus Smith, helped England play smart when it finally held the ball, and namesake Fin Smith kicked well to get a foothold in the game. 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. The visitors had physical momentum but in the new half were slow out of the blocks again and South Africa was clinical. Boks scrumhalf Grant Williams dummied and crossed for the bonus fourth try in the 45th minute, and Kolbe added the extras as he kicked better the longer the match went. 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. ___ AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

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