Preview: England vs South Africa

After both these sides suffered defeats last weekend they will both be eager  not to suffer successive losses when they meet each other at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. England put up a valiant display against the All Blacks but in the end became undone. As for the Boks they were stunned by Ireland in what was a lacklustre performance with the Irish taking advantage. 

England have not fared well against the Boks and have only achieved victory in one of the last twelve games against South Africa with their last win coming all the way back in 2006 with England defeating the Boks 23-21 at Twickenham. The last time these two sides met was 2 years ago during an Autumn international where the Boks won narrowly 16-15 thanks to the boot of  Lambie and and a try from Alberts. These sides famously met in the World Cup final in 2007 where South Africa secured their second World Cup win defeating England 15-6 thanks to the boot of Percy Montgomery in a try less Final. 

In teams news England make one change from the side that lost out to the All Blacks with Anthony Watson replacing his Bath team mate Rokodugini who misses out through injury. With Watson starting this week Marland Yarde is recalled to the squad and takes his place on the bench.

As for the Boks they make five changes to their side that was brushed a side by the Irish. Meyer makes 3 changes in the backline with a new halfback partnership with Reinach and Lambie replacing Hougaard and Pollard who both drop to the bench. On the Wing Pietersen starts ahead of Hendricks while in the forwards Burger and Strauss start with Bismaark Du Plessis and Mohoje dropping out of the starting XV.

After eight years without a single victory against the Springboks, England will be hoping to change that this weekend against a South African side who will be desperate to get back to winning ways after last weekend’s defeat.