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Four talking points as England name team to host the Springboks

Ben Spencer has been dropped from the England side to host the Springboks (Photo by Andrew Kearns/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Steve Borthwick kept to his schedule this week, sticking to the plan that had his latest England team announcement pencilled in for Thursday.

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The past two weeks he had jumped the gun, arriving in off the Pennyhill Park training ground on the Tuesday and deciding to bring forward his team announcements versus New Zealand and Australia by two days.

That was a tactic from the old Warren Gatland playbook, organise to announce on Thursday and then gazump the opposition by confidently naming the team on the Tuesday with a swagger.

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It worked for Wales back in the day when they were winning Six Nations Grand Slams, reaching Rugby World Cup semi-finals and picking up Autumn Nations Series scalps. However, the Gatland 2.0 era in Wales has been dismal… and England under Borthwick have been tracking in a similar way results-wise.

The Welsh have lost 10 on the bounce, England have lost five – or six of the last eight if you stretch the outlook back to their last February crash at Scotland.

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That’s a barren run that must end soon for the head coach’s credibility and he has his work cut out this Saturday with the world champion Springboks in London town. Here are the RugbyPass England team talking points:

Spencer axed
So long, Ben Spencer. Having waited his entire career to start a Test with England, the 32-year-old finds himself axed after just two starts under Borthwick. With Alex Mitchell off limits due to a neck injury, the Bath skipper was given first dibs on the No9 shirt.

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He went well versus the All Blacks, as he featured in the post-game debate alleging that Borthwick had withdrawn his half-backs too early and it gave momentum the tourists their match-winning invite.

Spencer struggled against the Wallabies, though. While there was one supreme off-load from the floor to Tommy Freeman after he had pounced on loose ball, he was missing in action when Tate McDermott skipped around a first-half ruck to set up Harry Wilson’s try.

Then, after some ineffective box kicking, he couldn’t do enough to shunt the scoring Jeremy Williams into touch when tackling him in the corner.

Spencer was subbed on 62 minutes for Harry Randall, who now finds himself jumped in the pecking order as Jack van Poortvliet had been ranked as the squad’s third pick but he will start against the Springboks.

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Spencer was a different style player to Mitchell, but van Poortvliet is more of a mirror image to what England had with the Northampton player as their No9.

The selection closes the circle on events 15 months ago when serious injury to van Poortvliet opened the door for Mitchell to go to the Rugby World Cup. Now, it’s van Poortvliet’s chance to benefit from Mitchell being the one injured.

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It’s Freddie
It’s been quite the 13 months for the 23-year-old Freddie Steward. First capped under Eddie Jones, he continued his excellent run of selection under Borthwick until the miserable week in Provence when he learned that Marcus Smith would be the starting full-back against Fiji in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final.

With Smith injured in that match, Steward was back in situ for the following weekend’s semi-final versus South Africa and he was excellent defending in the air and filling the space.

He was similarly defensively effective in the early February win over Wales, but ambition to finesse the attack counted him out for the next five matches due to the belief that George Furbank has more to offer in that department.

Injury to Furbank got Steward back in the team for the July tour-ending loss to New Zealand. but it was back to the sidelines for the opening round of the Autumn Nations Series.

However, he has now been reinstated at No15 following England’s concession of eight tries in their two November matches under new defence coach Joe El-Abd. Shutting the door will be Steward’s remit as well as taking to the skies… just as he memorably did on a rainy night in Paris 13 months ago.

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

Underhill’s return 
Two of the four changes England have made to their starting line-up were concussion-enforced following the bangs Tom Curry and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso sustained against the Wallabies.

It’s good from a player welfare perspective that both have been afforded the time and space to get themselves fully right – and it has also meant that that the preamble to Saturday’s match hasn’t been consumed by the prospect of Curry sharing the pitch for the first time with Bongi Mbonambi for the first time since their rumbustious World Cup semi-final disagreement.

Curry had claimed that he was called a “white c**t” by Mbonambi during the Stade de France game, but a World Rugby investigation in the following days found insufficient evidence. Mbonambi insisted at the time that the misunderstanding had arisen because Curry didn’t realise he was speaking Afrikaans, saying “wit kant”, the white-clothed side.

With Curry sidelined, Sam Underhill is the selection beneficiary and he will feel he has a big point to prove to Borthwick.

He had been the starting England No7 in nine consecutive matches, stretching back to his man of the match effort versus Argentina in the bronze medal game in France, but alleged rustiness with Bath this season saw him relinquish the Test jersey to Curry. But now he is back and his contribution will be crucial if the Springboks are to be repelled.

Faith still in Ford
The promotion of Ollie Sleightholme into the starting XV was only right given his two-try cameo off the bench against the Wallabies. Of course, there will be defensive concerns as he was involved in a couple of shabby moments last Saturday, but he is quite the potent finisher and deserves his chance with Feyi-Waboso unavailable.

One-cap Tom Roebuck will fill Sleightholme’s bench role, but what is most curious about the replacements is Borthwick’s stubbornness regarding George Ford. He has had two terrible appearances as a sub in recent weeks, but he has retained the No22 shirt with Fin Smith again overlooked.

Numerous England fans have been clamouring to see more of the 22-year-old Smith but with the 31-year-old Ford named by Borthwick as one of his 17 enhanced elite player squad picks, it seems the head coach has plenty of faith still left in Ford even though his Test form has been terrible on the back of limited time this season with Sale.

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Comments

13 Comments
J
JW 6 days ago

Good to see Steward back, Furbank had been dangerous but also found out of place at the back. Sensible decision based on everyones kick receipt struggles alone.


Could prove a masterstroke and you see why the team naming was delayed so that SA don't have time to change preparation from a kick heavy strategy. Will Rassie have predicted this or be looking to double down with a running approach anyway? I've suggested for a couple of years while SA produce box kickathons that they actually do better playing rugby, this could be another cracker of a match if SA go in with this mindset of beating England at their own game.

N
NHinSH 6 days ago

Not sure I'd agree that van Poortvliet is a mirror image of Mitchell. They play the game very differently

T
Tom 6 days ago

Underhill finally back, he keeps being left out and I've no idea why. He's probably the best 7 we've had since 2003.

L
LRB 6 days ago

The man's a beast isn't he

A
AA 6 days ago

So bye bye to settled team .

Two more leicester players shoehorned in .

I do wish them both well and can see the point of large full back .

But Spencer/ Furbank not even in the 23 is madness.

Vdp has not done enough to earn his place compared to Spencers form at Bath this year ,but I hope he can do ok .

If Borthwick is picking on form then how the dickens can ford keep his place after 2 very poor games.

Poor Fin Smith must be wondering how much better he has to play to get in if Ford can give tries away and still get picked.Also, At least Furbank could play 10 or 15 or 11/14 if needs but ford only has the skill to play 10 .this limit the option really badly by picking ford . No speed . No skill at tackling .

.

I do hope Marcus comes through the 80 mins unscathed


B
BH 6 days ago

JVP is Ben Youngs lite from what i have seen, SB appears to have returned to the box kick mentality that he used in the WC which was fine then as it was wet but Saturdays forecast is for dry weather and light winds and i cannot see this tactic working as well.


Steward as solid under the high ball as he is, has no real pace in attack and turns slower than a tractor, the SA wingers will be licking their lips when kicks are put in behind him.


Other than the swaps for the concussed players i fear it is more of the same this week and i can see us (Eng) getting rinsed in the scrum.


It will be interesting to see if Ford is brought on at 60 as he is more of a kicking 10 ten than Smith, i just do not see where our attack is coming from as WW is out of his depth going on recent displays..

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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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