Sports Mole previews Saturday’s friendly clash between England and South Africa, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
The second match on a Saturday filled with mouth-watering Autumn Nations Series action will see England take on South Africa at the iconic Twickenham Stadium.
England come into this match off the back of a narrow defeat to Australia at this venue last weekend, while South Africa beat Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Match preview
It has now been just over a year since England hearts were broken at the Stade de France when they suffered a one-point defeat to this opponent in the semi-final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Thus, this match represents a chance at redemption for the Red Rose, but they enter this contest following a deflating 42-37 defeat against Rugby Championship Wooden Spoon recipients, the Wallabies, which saw them drop below Scotland in the world rankings.
That result marked Steve Borthwick‘s side’s fourth consecutive defeat following three in succession to New Zealand, while they have only managed two wins in their last eight, dating back to their Calcutta Cup loss during the Six Nations.
So, is it time to sound the alarm bells? Well, not necessarily. If we take a closer look at England’s defeats this year – they lost by two points to France, one point to New Zealand in July and then another two-point loss to the All Blacks at the start of this month. The other two defeats during this spell were by five points last week and seven on July 13.
Considering these results, indeed a trend of near-misses has formed, but the flip side of that coin shows that England are still a very competitive side and perhaps indicates that their problem is one of fine margins rather than a need for a massive overall improvement.
Granted, it will not be easy against the world champions, but neutrals would likely agree that England are not far away from turning a corner, and a victory against the Boks could be exactly what is needed to give them the push required to make 2025 a big one for the nation.
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Meanwhile, South Africa got their Autumn Nations Series started with a trip to Murrayfield and came away with a 32-15 victory, which saw them reclaim their spot at the top of the world rugby rankings.
While a 17-point margin of victory looks very good on paper, it does not tell the full story of the match, though, as the Springboks were extremely sloppy with their handling, and were let off the hook a couple of times with refereeing decisions that could have gone either way.
However, therein perhaps lies the one thing that sets this team apart from most others – their ability to win ugly – as despite playing with a largely second-string side and delivering a performance some way from their best, the Boks still found a way to get the result.
That win was the Green and Gold’s seventh in their last eight matches, with a one-point loss to Argentina at the Rugby Championship in September being the only blemish on their record in that time.
Undoubtedly, the visitors will arrive at Twickenham with greater confidence and as the favourite, but even the most die-hard Springbok fan will know that their side is in for a proper arm-wrestle when they step out on the pitch this weekend.
England form (all competitions):
South Africa form (all competitions):
Team News
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Borthwick has made four changes to his squad for this headline fixture, with Ollie Sleightholme, Jack van Poortvliet, Freddie Steward and Sam Underhill all set to join the starting lineup.
The quartet come into the side for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry, who are sidelined with injuries, while Ben Spencer and George Furbank are dropped, with Borthwick opting for fresh blood at scrum-half and full-back.
Rassie Erasmus, on the other hand, has brought back his big-hitters for this match, making as many as 12 changes to the squad that faced Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, with only Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi keeping their places.
Two of the more surprising selections for the Boks are the inclusions of Manie Libbok and Wilco Louw, while Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Aphelele Fassi, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel are all back in starting 15 after being given the afternoon off last week.
England starting lineup: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Tom Roebuck
South Africa starting lineup: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Lukhanyo Am
We say: England 24-28 South Africa
Three of the last five matches between these two have been decided by a single point and we are expecting another close contest on Sunday. However, South Africa have a knack of finding ways to get over the line and we feel they will do so again in this one.
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