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Four changes for England, including the axing of scrum-half Spencer

England head coach Steve Borthwick during last Saturday's pre-match warm-up versus Australia (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick has named an England team showing four changes – including the axing of scrum-half Ben Spencer – to host South Africa this Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

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Hurt by last weekend’s clock-in-the red 37-42 defeat to Australia, three alterations have been made to the back line and one to the pack for the visit of the world champion Springboks.

Two of the England switches were injury-enforced, beginning with Sam Underhill being named at openside in place of Tom Curry, whose appearance against the Wallabies was ended by a first-half concussion.

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus on facing England at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

The Springboks will be bracing themselves for a huge showdown against an England team desperate to right the wrongs after suffering back-to-back home defeats.

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus on facing England at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

The Springboks will be bracing themselves for a huge showdown against an England team desperate to right the wrongs after suffering back-to-back home defeats.

Also marked absent for a similar reason for Autumn Nations Series match three will be Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who was an early second-half departure versus the Australians.

Tommy Freeman will switch from left to right wing to fill Feyi-Waboso’s No14 jersey, with Ollie Sleightholme, who came off the bench to score twice, chosen to start with the No11 on his back.

Team Form

Last 5 Games

0
Wins
4
5
Streak
3
12
Tries Scored
20
-24
Points Difference
72
2/5
First Try
4/5
3/5
First Points
3/5
2/5
Race To 10 Points
4/5

Aside from those two injury issues, there were two form changes in the backs as Freddie Steward has been chosen to start at full-back at the expense of George Furbank while Jack van Poortvliet has been picked at scrum-half in place of the axed Spencer.

Steward last started for England in their tour-ending loss to New Zealand in Auckland last July, but it was August 2023 when van Poortvliet was last capped at Test level.

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At the time, he had been named in Borthwick’s official Rugby World Cup squad but a serious ankle injury against Wales just five days after that announcement ruled him out and paved the way for Alex Mitchell to come in and star at the finals.

With Sleightholme promoted to the starting line-up, his place on the England bench is taken by Tom Roebuck.

That is the only change to the England replacements where the five/three forwards/backs divide mirrors the split the Springboks have selected this weekend for their reserves following last Sunday’s seven/one tactic away to Scotland. The visitors have also made a dozen changes to their starting line-up.

In an RFU statement, England head coach Borthwick said: “We are excited to challenge ourselves against the world’s top-ranked team and back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions. Test matches against South Africa are always thrilling contests, and I’m sure Saturday will be no exception.”

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England (vs South Africa, Saturday)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps)
14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 13 caps)
13. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 29 caps)
12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 67 caps)
11. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 37 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 64 caps) – vice-captain
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 95 caps) – captain
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 43 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 86 caps) – vice-captain
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
6. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 9 caps)
7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 35 caps) – vice-captain

Replacements:
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 42 caps)
17. Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 4 caps)
18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 117 caps)
19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 13 caps)
20. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 19 caps)
21. Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 9 caps)
22. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 98 caps) – vice-captain
23. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)

Related

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Comments

4 Comments
T
Tom 6 days ago

Well, SA know what's coming now if they didn't already!

B
Bull Shark 6 days ago

Indigestion?

f
fl 6 days ago

this is a really, really good starting XV. Some issues still with the bench, but Borthwick is setting the team up to cause SA a lot of problems.

B
Bull Shark 6 days ago

The teams good. How they play isn’t.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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