Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Four changes in latest England team, including two in front row

(Photo by Alex Davidson/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

England boss Eddie Jones has named a team to face the Springboks this Saturday in London that has four changes from the starting XV that drew 25-all with the All Blacks last weekend. The head coach had mentioned after the New Zealand game that an improved set-piece performance would be needed for the match against the South Africans which is set to bring the curtain down on the Autumn Nations Series.

ADVERTISEMENT

That thinking has now fed into team selection with England opting to start loosehead Mako Vunipola and hooker Jamie George in the front row and draft Alex Coles in at blindside following his bench role last weekend. Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds all drop to the replacements.

Jones had already omitted back-rower Jack Willis, a used replacement last weekend, when he cut his squad from 36 to 26 on Tuesday evening, and that is the bench vacancy that Simmonds will now fill.   

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

In the backline, Tommy Freeman has been chosen on the right wing in place of Jack Nowell – the sole change behind the scrum – and the demotion of Nowell has resulted in Guy Porter being excluded from the match day 23. Utility back Porter, loosehead Bevan Rodd and lock Hugh Tizard are the three players that Jones named in his reduced squad of 26 not included for Saturday.

This benching of Genge and Nowell will especially be a big deal for England as these players were two of the vice-captains that Jones had nominated at the start of the campaign. Jones said: “This is our last game of the autumn and our chance to continue building on the improvements we have made throughout the matches.

Related

“We have made steady progress from game to game, culminating in a pulsating draw against New Zealand. Now we have the chance to test ourselves against the might of the world champions. We are going out there to light the crowd up. The support at Twickenham was outstanding last week and we want to work hard on the pitch to make sure we have another atmosphere like that again on Saturday.”

England (vs Springboks, Saturday)
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
13. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 49 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (C) (Saracens, 100 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 71 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 16 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 6 caps)
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 73 caps)
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 71 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 55 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 61 caps)
5. Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 18 caps)
6. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 44 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 67 caps)

ADVERTISEMENT

Replacements:
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 40 caps)
17. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 42 caps)
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 24 caps)
19. David Ribbans (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
20. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 120 caps)
22. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 51 caps)
23. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 44 caps)

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

B
Bull Shark 14 minutes ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

15 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING All Blacks prop punished for breaking team protocol All Blacks prop punished
Search