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The Springboks verdict on England's much-vaunted back row
By Josh Raisey
One of the standout performers for England so far this World Cup, if not the standout performer, has been No8 Ben Earl, who has been playing the rugby of his life in both the No8 and No7 jersey so far.
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Alongside England’s 104-cap vice-captain Courtney Lawes and British & Irish Lions openside Tom Curry, that makes quite a formidable trio and South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber is aware of that.
After naming his Springboks side to face England in the World Cup semi-final this Saturday, Nienaber described how England’s back row “complement each other quite well”, and commended both Earl and Lawes for how they effectively played an entire match in a two-man back row against Argentina in the opening game of the tournament following Curry’s red card.
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“They have a quality back row who complement each other quite well,” he said. “Even when they got a red card against Argentina, the way the other two performed and just absorbed his [Tom Curry’s] role was quite impressive. They are a quality team, we obviously know them through the [English] Premiership. While following our players’ performances, we see them as well.
Before he lavished England’s loose forwards in too much praise, Nienaber did highlight that they are coming up against the exact trio that started in the Springboks’ World Cup final victory over England in 2019. The experienced trio of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Duane Vermeulen are set to start together for the 15th time, which is a back row record that has only been bettered in green by Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Vermeulen, who played together 17 times.
Nienaber said: “If you look at our back row, they all started the final in 2019 and they are all on form and playing well, so it’s going to be a nice match-up.”
According to duck duck go…
England has experience of knock out rugby. They will compete، unlike Argentina
I’m reading these comments with complete disbelief…. they really are deluded.. they think that England have a better back row than Boks???? We will see on Saturday just how good they are.. as Tyson says everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face!
Literally no one said England have a better back row than the Boks. Have we just read the same article??
England are a good side. The so called easy road could easily camouflage their quality and lead to dangerous assumptions and complacency, at which point you will definitely lose the match. I’m a South African, but I respect England, an underrated and dangerous team.
Much vaunted?
It's a good back row but if anything it's underrated not vaunted.
Zach Mercer
The England backrow has been compromised by Borthwick picking only 1 specialist no 8 in vunipola and then not trusting him to start a test!!, this leaves Ben Earl having to play out of position, he’s a great player but not at no 8, a position you need yrs to become proficient at.
Our backrow lacks ball carrying oomph when compared to the boks or France or Ireland.
We need a big ball carrying 8.
After Savea, Earl is undoubtedly the best No 8 in the world.
Lawes World Class, carries the team.
Curry loose canon can't tackle.
Earl fast but too light compared to the Boks.
Still looking for the vaunt.
He’s an irrelevant 3kgs lighter than Kolisi but way quicker and far better than any of SA's back three when it comes to breakdown and open play. Tackle success is better than all the starting SA back three as well.
Agree, they may be bit faster to the breakdown but won’t be able to impact rucks or boss our back row in the tackle. Curry is walking red card, should have been carded against Fiji, and as you say has notackle technique when faced with bigger players.