The gap between England and South Africa is usually narrower than expectations, but Steve Borthwick's side must raise their game again.
England have lost their opening two games of the autumn at the Allianz Stadium, going down to narrow defeats by New Zealand and AustraliaListen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and appSouth Africa have an immediate and emotional connection to their own nation.Asked about opposite number Steve Borthwick, there was an initial trace of empathy in Rassie Erasmus’ comments... It didn’t last the paragraph though.
Back-to-back world champions South Africa are top of the rankings. But the gap between the two teams on the pitch is rarely as big as on the spreadsheet. It was high on structure, low on risk and fiendishly hard to play against. Just as Leicester had been under Borthwick in their Premiership title win in 2022.Leicester scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet is back in place of Ben Spencer, tasked with feeding a swift ball to Marcus Smith and hoisting bombs.
Northampton pair Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman – with height advantage over opposite numbers Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse and emboldened by the officials clamping down on receiving teams’ ‘escorting’ running lines - will lead the kick-chase.Ellis Genge used to have an image of Mike Tyson emblazoned on his boots. He got a good luck message from the former heavyweight world champion at Japan 2019.
The turning of the scrum screw late on switched the teams’ tracks in the 2023 semi-final, consigning England to defeat and advancing South Africa to the final. The fall-out from that most recent meeting – with final-whistle scuffles and an allegation, denied by Bongi Mbonambi, of a racial slur aimed at Tom Curry – means the reunion is set to be both personal and physical.
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