Erasmus keen not to take England for granted as he names strong Springbok squad

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has named a strong side to face England in their Autumn Nations Series clash at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday, in what many dub as a rematch of the 2023 World Cup semi-final.

South Africa head into the match as heavy favourites after defeating Scotland comprehensively last weekend, but Erasmus is concerned about the quick turnaround between games.

“The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad with only six days between two tough Test matches,” said Erasmus.

“It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we’ve made 12 changes to the starting lineup, but we have been rotating our squad all season.

“Over and above that most of these players know each other really well having played together for the last few seasons, as well as in the Rugby World Cup, the Castle Lager Incoming Series, and the Rugby Championship, so we are pleased with the quality of the team we’ve been able to name.”

Erasmus said the reversion to the traditional five-three split was a response to the challenge he expected England to pose.

“England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses,” said the Bok coach.

“Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.

“England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we size of the challenge.

Despite England’s poor run of results during this years Autumn tests, the Springbok coach is keen not to take anything for granted.

“We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.”

“As I said on Sunday, we will be facing a desperate England team that will give everything on Saturday, so the consistency in our player combinations will be vital for us to deliver the quality of the performance we would like to.

“It’s going to be vital for the players to gel quickly so hopefully we can start off strongly because we are expecting a full-out 80-minute battle.

“They are playing at home in front of a passionate home crowd, and we know they will give everything to turn their Series around, so we believe it’s going to be a hard match until the final whistle,” he added.

Springbok team to face England in London:

15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps, 30 points (6t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 38 caps, 101 points (16t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 77 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 18 caps, 94 pts (1t, 28c, 11p)
9 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 16 caps, 15 points (3t)

8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 32 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 90 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 38 caps, 10 points (2t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 129 caps, 30 points (6t)
3 – Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 14 caps, 0 points
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 76 caps, 75 points (15t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 38 caps, 0 points

Replacements:

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 74 caps, 105 points (21t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 59 caps, 0 points
19 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 0 points
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 50 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 37 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 78 caps, 767 points (7t, 108c, 167p, 5dg)
23 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 41 caps, 35 pts (7t)

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against England:

Played: 46; Won 28; Lost 16; Drawn 2; Points for 988; Points against 784; Tries scored: 89; Tries against: 58; Highest score: 58-10; Biggest win 48 points. Win percentage 60,8%.