Springbok team for big game against England
Springboks vs England
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber named Handré Pollard and Cobus Reinach in a fresh half-back pairing and recalled Lood de Jager at lock in three changes to his starting team for the final test of the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour against England at Twickenham on November 20.
Pollard (flyhalf), Reinach (scrumhalf) and de Jager were drafted into the starting lineup in rotational switches, which sees Elton Jantjies and Herschel Jantjies join Franco Mostert (utility forward) among the replacements in other changes to the match-day squad that defeated Scotland 30-15 at Murrayfield last week.
Victory for the Springboks over a strong England team will not only see the South Africans retain the number one spot on the world rankings, it would also mark their first unbeaten Castle Lager Outgoing Tour since 2013 and wrap up a successful season for the world champions with nine victories in 13 test matches.
The last time the Springboks beat England in London was in 2014, when they edged the hosts 31-28, but they have won three of their last six outings against their northern hemisphere arch-rivals – the most recent being the Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama in 2019, where the Boks emerged 32-12 victors.
“We built up good momentum in the tests against Wales and Scotland, and it is important for us to transfer that into our final match of the tour against England, so we opted to make only three changes to the starting team for this weekend’s clash,” said Nienaber.
“England will pose different threats to Scotland, and with that in mind, we have decided to start with Handré, Cobus and Lood.
“Elton, Herschel and Franco have shown they can inject energy and ignite a spark on attack off the bench, which will be handy against an English outfit we know will be highly charged up for this match.”
Andrew Brace (Ireland) has been appointed the match referee and will be assisted by Angus Gardner (Australia) and Frank Murphy (Ireland), while his Irish compatriot, Brian MacNeice, will be on TMO duty.
