Preview: England vs Springboks
Photo: Werner Nysschen Photography
The Springboks take on England at Twickenham on Saturday in what can be described as a “must win” for both sides. They haven’t played each other since the end of year tour in 2012 where South Africa narrowly won 16-15 after England couldn’t finish off a late comeback.
The home side comes off of a 21-24 loss to the All Blacks at the weekend in what was a hard fought battle. England looked good up front, especially in the lineouts. They managed to put pressure on New Zealand and played some attractive rugby in the first Half. With 10 months to go until the World Cup the tournament hosts will want to produce the goods against the best sides in the world.
The Springboks were taught a rugby lesson in Dublin where they lost 29-15 to a very passionate and tactically superior Irish side. The Boks were simply not good enough and will be under huge pressure to secure their first win of the Castle Lager Outgoing Test Series.
Meyer retained the match 23 but made 5 changes to the starting line up. Strauss, Burger, Pietersen, Reinach and Lambie were all promoted from the bench while Hendricks, Pollard, Hougaard, Mohoje and Bismarck will provide important cover. Meyer said that the changes were not a knee-jerk reaction following the result in Dublin, but rather in line with rotational changes that he had in mind before the start of the tour.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster made one forced change to his starting lineup which sees winger Watson take the place of injured Rokoduguni, with Yarde moving into the match day 23. “I know the players are looking forward to the challenge,” he added. “South Africa have quality and experience across the park and it will be a big test for us.”
Both sides will want to dominate at scrum time especially if it’s another wet Twickenham. The Boks dominated this department against the Irish but were not able to make it count. If last week is anything to go by it will be a huge battle and one that could give the winning side an edge.
Turnovers will also be an area that both teams will want to make their presence felt. The Springboks have a specialist open side flanker in Coetzee who might just have the edge over the out of position Robshaw.
Lambie, who impressed in both the Wallaby and All Black tests ,starts at flyhalf. His performance will be crucial to the Boks cause. “Pat started at Twickenham for us two years ago and did very well,” said Meyer. “He’s playing well at the moment and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start. Pat is tactically very astute and even though he’s still pretty young, he’s got a lot of experience.
South Africa will look for a much improved performance from their world class back three in Habana, Pietersen and Le Roux. They take on Brown, who will want to regain his form from last season, and fairly inexperienced wingers: May and Watson.
Neither side will relish the prospect of back to back defeats. On paper the Boks have the class and experience but England are at home. Whichever side wins is going to have to put in a clinical performance for the full eighty minutes.
It’s going to be a close contest but I can’t see the wounded Boks repeating last weeks poor performance. They should bounce back for a narrow win against England.
England team:
Position / Name / Club / Test Caps
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 30 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 19 caps)
12. Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 5 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 8 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 26 caps)
9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 49 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 23 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 58 caps)
3. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)
4. Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 13 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 33 caps)
6. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 31 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 29 caps, captain)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 11 caps)
Replacements
16. Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 9 caps)
17. Matt Mullan (Wasps, 6 caps)
18. Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 3 caps)
19. George Kruis (Saracens, 1 cap)
20. Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 24 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 39 caps)
22. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)
23. Marland Yarde (Harlequins, 5 caps)
Springbok team:
Position / Name / Test Caps
15 Willie le Roux 22
14 JP Pietersen 57
13 Jan Serfontein 17
12 Jean de Villiers (captain) 103
11 Bryan Habana 104
10 Pat Lambie 37
9 Cobus Reinach 3
8 Duane Vermeulen 26
7 Schalk Burger 74
6 Marcell Coetzee 23
5 Victor Matfield (vice-captain) 118
4 Eben Etzebeth 30
3 Jannie du Plessis 61
2 Adriaan Strauss 41
1 Tendai Mtawarira 62
Replacements:
16 Bismarck du Plessis 67
17 Trevor Nyakane 10
18 Coenie Oosthuizen 18
19 Bakkies Botha 84
20 Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje 4
21 Francois Hougaard 33
22 Handré Pollard 7
23 Cornal Hendricks 10
Referee: Steve Walsh
Date: Saturday, 15th November 2014
Kick-off: 16h30 CAT
RugbyViews…
Related Posts
« PREVIEW: SCOTLAND VS NEW ZEALAND French coach names unchanged starting XV »
