Rugby’s Autumn International, England v South Africa preview
England is confidently looking for their 3rd consecutive win of this autumn season. They have beaten Wallabies and Samoa early this season and are going to play against Springboks in their 3rd and last match of this season.
On the other hand, South Africa, who is facing huge amount of criticism after their last week’s defeat against a weaker side Scotland, also wants to end their season with the victory against England so they could bring cheers back on their fans faces.
The match will be played at Twickenham Stadium, London this Saturday.
Past Record
If we look at the previous record between both countries then South Africa is a step forward than England.
Both teams have played 31 matches against Each other. South Africa has won 18, while England has won 12 matches, 1 match was drawn.
South Africa has one more edge over England and that is, England has not been able to beat them since November 2007. They have lost 6 consecutive matches against South Africa.
If we see the record of matches played at Twickenham Stadium, London, then both the teams have the same record here against each other. They have played 16 matches at Twickenham Stadium and have won 8 matches each.
South Africa’s difficulties
Although South Africa’s past record is better than England’s, they are passing through a rough patch.
First they had to announce their squad for the Northern Hampshire without many star players, who were facing injury problems.
Then they faced one more problem, when their 2 players were sent back to South Africa due to a positive dope test.
South Africa’s recent form
South Africa’s recent form is also not up to the mark. They have only been able to win 1 match out of the 6 matches in the recently concluded Tri Nations Tournament.
Although they won their first 2 matches of the current tour of Northern Hampshire, those were against weaker sides, Wales and Ireland, and both victories were not very convincing.
Their worst performance of the year came against Scotland last Saturday, when they lost the match against them.
Their recent poor form will definitely give England a psychological edge over them.
Johnson’s Warning
Although South Africa’s recent form is not going well, England’s manager Martin Johnson has warned his team that South Africa will put their 100% in the match, as they are desperate to win.
"It is going to be a big, big game. It is a cracking game to be involved in whenever you play South Africa and you always know what you are going to get in terms of intensity. We know we will have to play at a very high level to win".
England’s blind side Tom Croft, who toured to South Africa last year with British and Irish Lines, also admits that undoubtedly South Africa is a class side and their recent performance did not reflect what they are.
He said, they can be unstoppable on their day and England will not make the mistake to take them lightly.
South Africa’s team changes
South Africa has made 2 changes for the match. They have called scrum half Ruan Pienaar and number eight Pierre Spies back in the team.
Our Opinion
No doubt that England’s recent form is better than South Africa and South Africa is also missing many star players but still they have many talented young players with them, who are fully capable of giving England a tough time. If they play according to
their game plan then they can end their tour with a victory.
Teams
England (15-1) Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Nick Easter (capt), Lewis Moody, Tom Croft; Tom Palmer, Courtney Lawes; Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: Steve Thompson, Matt Banahan, Danny Care, Hendre Fourie, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, Charlie Hodgson
South Africa (15-1) Zane Kirchner; Gio Aplon, Frans Steyn, Jean de Villiers, Lwazi Mvovo; Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar; Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Deon Stegmann; Victor Matfield (capt), Bakkies Botha; Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis,
Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: Adrian Strauss, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Willem Alberts, Francois Hougaard, Patrick Lambie, Adi Jacobs
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