Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet will return for England towards South Africa on Saturday after Steve Borthwick made 4 adjustments to his beginning XV to face the world champions.
Head coach Borthwick had gone with the identical line-up for England’s slender defeats to New Zealand and Australia over the earlier two weekends, however has made important alterations as he seeks to finish a four-match winless streak.
Steward is available in at full-back instead of George Furbank, whereas Van Poortvliet replaces Ben Spencer at scrum-half in two adjustments that look like tactical. Neither of the Leicester duo had been included within the matchday 23 for both of the earlier two fixtures.
Winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and ahead Tom Curry each miss out after struggling head accidents towards Australia. Ollie Sleightholme is promoted from the bench to a beginning function on the wing after scoring two tries towards the Wallabies, whereas Sam Underhill comes into the back-row.
The one change to the England bench from final weekend is the addition of Sale Sharks winger Tom Roebuck, who’s in line to make his second worldwide look after that includes in Japan in June.
Meaning Marcus Smith continues at fly-half at Allianz Stadium with George Ford offering back-up from the bench.
“We’re excited to challenge ourselves against the world’s top-ranked team and back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions,” Borthwick mentioned.
“Test matches against South Africa are always thrilling contests, and I’m sure Saturday will be no exception.”
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Van Poortvliet has not featured for England since struggling an ankle ligament damage in a warm-up recreation forward of final 12 months’s World Cup, however comes straight again into the beginning XV as Harry Randall stays on the bench.
Steward was a key participant throughout England’s run to the semi-finals in Paris however was dropped through the Six Nations and has since made only one substitute look, towards New Zealand in July.
England crew to face South Africa: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George (captain), 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Tom Roebuck.
Libbok begins at fly-half as South Africa make 12 adjustments
Manie Libbok returns at fly-half for South Africa because the world champions make 12 adjustments to the aspect that beat Scotland final weekend.
Solely forwards Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Eben Etzebeth stay from the beginning XV that led the Springboks to a 32-15 victory at Murrayfield.
There may be one other notable alteration from head coach Rassie Erasmus in returning to a standard 5-3 cut up between forwards and backs on his bench after going for a 7-1 cut up final weekend.
Prop Wilco Louw will make his first worldwide look since 2021 having solely obtained a late name up the squad following accidents.
Libbok began South Africa’s World Cup semi-final victory over England final 12 months in Paris however was substituted after simply half-hour earlier than alternative Handre Pollard led them to glory.
Regardless of his excellent common play, Libbok’s goal-kicking woes, which surfaced as soon as extra through the Springboks’ triumphant Rugby Championship marketing campaign this summer season, have prevented him from sustaining a agency grip on the No 10 jersey.
“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,” Erasmus mentioned.
“It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we’ve made 12 changes to the starting line-up, but we have been rotating our squad all season.”
South Africa crew to face England: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Lukhanyo Am.
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