England flanker Tom Croft urges caution ahead of Springbok Test
England, British and Irish Lion Tom Croft has urged his team to be wary of South Africa, ahead of their Test at Twickenham on Saturday 27 November.
The Springboks will be hoping to end their tour on a high, after they were defeated 21-17 by Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday 20 November.
England will go into the game as favourites, but Croft was eager to stress that South Africa were still formidable opponents. Croft told BBC Radio 5 live, "They're still world champions and you have to take that into account. South Africa have just lost
a game they may have expected to win so they'll be on the rampage."
England has impressed in the Autumn Internationals so far. They defeated Australia 35-18 and beat Samoa 26-13. The team’s only loss has come at the hands of New Zealand, as the world’s best team managed to beat the English 26-16 in the opening Test of the
series.
However, Croft is expecting the match with South Africa to be just as challenging as the All Blacks encounter, if England don’t front up to the Springboks. “You have to have respect for them off the pitch but as soon as you cross that whitewash, it's you
versus them and if you give them that respect on the pitch, they will get the upper hand," said Croft.
England coach Martin Johnson agreed with the forward and he was keen to stress that the South Africans were not a poor team because of one loss to Scotland.
"[South Africa] have lost one game on the tour here and won two [against Ireland and Wales]. They're still a very good team. Yes, they're missing some good players, but they've got other good players with a huge amount of experience who can come in and play,"
he said.
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