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Eddie Jones has named an England team to take on the Springboks in this Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series game in London that shows two changes from the starting XV that defeated the Wallabies last Saturday. Changes were guaranteed with skipper Owen Farrell and hooker Jamie George ruled out of contention following the victory over Australia.
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Their places in the starting England team are taken by Joe Marchant and Jamie Blamire. Marchant will start on the right wing, with Manu Tuilagi, last week’s No14, reverting to Farrell’s place at No12. Courtney Lawes takes over the captaincy.
In the pack, Blamire is chosen for his first Test start. On the bench, hooker Nic Dolly is in line for a Test debut while Joe Marler is included despite only being available to train with the squad on Friday following his period of isolation. England have opted for a six/two forwards/backs split on the bench with Raffi Quirke and Max Malins their only two backs. This is in contrast to the Springboks going with a five/three split.
It is the first meeting between the countries since the 2019 World Cup final that was won by the Springboks in Yokohama 24 months ago and it will be played out amid the backdrop of Springboks director Rassie Erasmus getting heavily sanctioned on Wednesday following the charges of misconduct arising out of the Lions tour last July.
Jones said: “This is our biggest game of the season and the final game of the autumn campaign and we want to finish with a bang. We have been really pleased with the preparation this week and how the team has continued to develop over the past month.
"We chucked him into what we term 'the fight club'… the way he ripped in was really promising"#England #ENGvRSA #AutumnNationsSeries #Springbokshttps://t.co/v2paqQhzRY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 17, 2021
“Now we want to put on our best performance this autumn in front of a capacity 82,000 crowd at Twickenham.” The non-selected players will return to their clubs on Thursday, as per an agreement with clubs, PRL and the RPA.
ENGLAND (vs Springboks, Saturday)
1. Bevan Rodd
2. Jamie Blamire
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Maro Itoje
5. Jonny Hill
6. Courtney Lawes
7. Sam Underhill
8. Tom Curry
9. Ben Youngs
10. Marcus Smith
11. Jonny May
12. Manu Tuilagi
13. Henry Slade
14. Joe Marchant
15. Freddie Steward
FINISHERS
16. Nic Dolly
17. Joe Marler
18. Will Stuart
19. Charlie Ewels
20. Sam Simmonds
21. Alex Dombrandt
22. Raffi Quirke
23. Max Malins
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It was the famed bench tactic that helped the Springboks to win the 2019 World Cup…#Springboks #ENGvRSA #AutumnNationsSeries #ENGLAND
https://t.co/r6C5fYCRjn— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 17, 2021
No backup fly half, maybe Slade to cover? Raw front rowers. England could be exposed on Saturday. Marcus being given a clear run is exciting. He will be a marked man. Hope refs spot the ‘slightly’ late hits.