Five changes deflated England need to make to beat the Boks

There were a lot of predictions flying around before the first Test in Johannesburg, but none that even came close to capturing the madness that was the game at Ellis Park.

England must have felt like they were close to putting South Africa away in the opening 20 minutes, cruising into a 21-point lead and looking as good as they have at any point under Eddie Jones’ stewardship, before a nightmare 40-minute period either side of the interval saw the Springboks roar back into life.

England did produce a late flourish in the final 20 minutes to put the game back into contention – an impressive achievement at altitude – but they ultimately succumbed to a 42-39 loss, in one of the more exhilarating Test matches of recent years.

There were positives for England to take from the result, but also several negatives, not least the fourth – or fifth, if you count the Barbarians game – loss on the spin for Jones and his team.

We take a look at five possible adjustments that England could make this week to help them turn the tables on the Boks in Bloemfontein and level the series going into the final Test in Cape Town.

Promote Brad Shields

It’s clear that Jones wanted to get Shields involved, thus the benching of Nick Isiekwe at the 35-minute mark, and with another week in camp under his belt, this seems as good an opportunity as any to give him his first start.

Chris Robshaw has a lot of credit in the bank with England, he has been unfairly made the poster boy for England’s failings in the past and brings a wealth of experience and leadership, but all that being said, his performances of late have dipped. It’s a long season and maybe now, at 32 years of age, he has hit his wall for the 2017/18 campaign.

No one is advocating Robshaw be cut adrift, but, having fought so hard to bring Shields in, it seems an apt time to give the Wasps-bound flanker an opportunity to stake a claim for the jersey moving forward. Mobility was highlighted by Jones as an issue and Shields brings an upgrade on Robshaw in that area.

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Bring Alex Lozowski into the XV

There were plenty of promising signs in the game in Johannesburg, so you don’t want to push too many changes on a side that looked lethal at times, but Lozowski finished the season in scintillating form.

We were harder on Henry Slade in our post-match review than most others, especially given how good he looked linking the inside and wider attacks of England in the opening 20 minutes, but his two knock-ons cost England when they were within reach of South Africa and chasing the game late on.

Defensively, it wasn’t a bad performance, but there were moments when wing and full-back were left isolated out wide and a try seemed a foregone conclusion. In that drift-blitz-decision-making regard, filling the shoes of Jonathan Joseph is an immensely difficult task, whose lateral quickness surpasses any of England’s other 13 options, save for perhaps Elliot Daly.

Can Lozowski do a better job? It’s by no means a certainty.

He does, however, have form on his side, as well as a debateable advantage in running hard lines back against the grain, which were the two cases of Slade knocking on late in the second half.

Switch Elliot Daly and Mike Brown

We made the case for why Jones was retaining Brown on the wing whilst he looked to develop Daly at full-back prior to the first Test, but it was a dynamic which didn’t survive first contact with the enemy.

Admittedly, Brown took his try on the wing very well, showing the footwork, fend and power that wings need to finish in a limited amount of space, whilst Daly showed the distribution skills he can bring to the back line from full-back during England’s early dominance.

Things went south after that, though, with the pair caught out positionally on defence, Daly struggling to tune his kicking compass to the challenges of playing at altitude and a lack of defensive chemistry between the pair and Slade at 13.

Switching them positionally would bring more comfort for both parties, with Brown’s reliability at the back and Daly’s acceleration and agility on the wing both valuable security blankets.

Ellis Genge and Danny Cipriani to provide impact

There is still a toothless edge to England’s bench and the replacements Jones can make feel predictable – Isiekwe crooking aside – and offer little game-changing impact.

Joe Marler’s value to England as a starter during their extensive win streak to begin Jones’ tenure was high, but since he has been demoted to the bench with the rise of Mako Vunipola, his ability to change games as a ‘finisher’ is limited. He is strong at the set-piece and influential as a defender, making him the perfect type of player to see out a game, but England are not a good enough team at present to build a bench based upon seeing out games from winning positions.

Likewise, with Piers Francis on the bench, England’s go-to move is to push Owen Farrell inside to fly-half and bring on Francis for George Ford at inside centre. Francis is a fine player, but he doesn’t offer anything too different to what England already have with Ford and Farrell at the positions.

In Genge and Cipriani, England would have two attack-minded players that can provide real impetus from the bench, giving Jones the ability to proactively change his team to chase down opponents, rather than having his best attacking options already on the pitch and resorting to changes purely to provide fresh legs.

Counter Faf de Klerk with Ben Spencer and Ben Earl

There was something mesmerising about the smallest player on the pitch running roughshod over England and dominating them around the fringes in a way which they haven’t been for years.

Starting Spencer over Ben Youngs is a big call and one that has plenty of risks. After all, Youngs has only recently come back into the international set-up after injury and will undoubtedly be better this weekend than he was in Johannesburg. Spencer does, however, bring a little bit more acceleration to the mix and an adept scrambling defence, potentially making him a more effective option to keep de Klerk under wraps.

On the bench, Earl could be an intriguing option. Not only can he cover all three back-row positions, he also brings mobility, something which de Klerk preyed on England’s lack of. If, as we suggest here, Shields joins Tom Curry on the flanks and neither player, nor Youngs or Spencer at nine, can curtail de Klerk’s fringe forays, then Earl is an option from the bench.

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