England vs South Africa 16th November

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England

15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps)
14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 13 caps)
13. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 29 caps)
12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 67 caps)
11. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 37 caps)
9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 64 caps) – vice-captain
2. Jamie George (Saracens, 95 caps) – captain
3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 43 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 86 caps) – vice-captain
5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
6. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 9 caps)
7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)
8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 35 caps) – vice-captain

Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 42 caps) 17. Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 4 caps) 18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 117 caps) 19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 13 caps) 20. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 19 caps) 21. Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 9 caps) 22. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 98 caps) – vice captain 23. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)


South Africa

15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps, 30 points (6t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 38 caps, 101 points (16t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 77 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 18 caps, 94 pts (1t, 28c, 11p)
9 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 16 caps, 15 points (3t)

8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 32 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 90 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 38 caps, 10 points (2t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 129 caps, 30 points (6t)
3 – Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 14 caps, 0 points
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 76 caps, 75 points (15t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 38 caps, 0 points

Replacements:

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 74 caps, 105 points (21t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 59 caps, 0 points
19 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 0 points
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 50 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 37 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 78 caps, 767 points (7t, 108c, 167p, 5dg)
23 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 41 caps, 35 pts (7t)

Yoda wrote:

Heaf wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:He was offside from the charge down again!

And they were offside at the restart - where are the officials looking?

Not sure reffing team have 20:20 vision. Pretty embarrassing misses from the men in the middle.

Gotta play the ref. If the Boks are offside then anticipate it. Don't just keep doing what puts England under pressure.

doctor_grey wrote:

Yoda wrote:

Heaf wrote:

Cumbrian wrote:He was offside from the charge down again!

And they were offside at the restart - where are the officials looking?

Not sure reffing team have 20:20 vision. Pretty embarrassing misses from the men in the middle.

Gotta play the ref.  If the Boks are offside then anticipate it.  Don't just keep doing what puts England under pressure.

Can't run out of the 22 though. It's to high risk and our kicking game has been good. It's noticeable that the players around the breakdown are now in the ref's ear about the offside at every attempted box kick.

That was a surprising advantage over, but no matter as South Africa score again.

It's pretty much the same as last week. Attack good, defence bad.

That pass was bloody forward!

Also Itoje may have been jumping across, but the throw was so squint that he got nowhere near it!

Hang on. Someone told me earlier that Whitehouse never gives you anything?

A miracle just occurred - Whitehouse call for England

Looked a harsh ruling to me.

Underhill's been top quality tonight.

We got caught well to narrow coming round the corner there. TMO has maybe had a chance to see the missed offsides in the first half and is quick to call that marginally forward pass.

Great counter ruck by Underhill and Martin. That's what is needed.

I reckon this might be forward....

That was more forward than South Africa's!

But looks as though a neck roll will take this one off.

Now watch us try to protect a 1 point lead for the next 29 minutes...

England's restarts have been very concerning this autumn.

Pffft! Needed that scrum penalty!

Cumbrian wrote:Pffft!  Needed that scrum penalty!

Point being England actually got a scrum pen. Happens when George is off - and he looked far off the mark today. LCD can't do worse.

Another bloody stupid kick

Such a dumb penalty to give away.

England specialise in dumb pens

Jammy b*stard

Is the referee blind? He clearly hooked Stewards arm!

That wasn't a contest - he pulled him down

Brace is such a poor referee. Has to be bailed out by the TMO numerous times because he misses obvious stuff.

I don't understand England's kicking to the touchline, if you have Slade in the side, why would he be kicking for touch every time? He has many, many metres on Smith.

Bloody defence again! That was just terrible!

Nothing England can do about it, Nick?

Maybe make a tackle? Awful from Slade in midfield.

Defence is appalling ... again

Duty281 wrote:Nothing England can do about it, Nick?

Maybe make a tackle? Awful from Slade in midfield.

Earl was the primary offender with the missed tackle on De Allende. Slade was just....there (not helping).

Underhill off - Dombrant on .... that's it then

Feels like we've got to score here.

2nd time ref says tidy up - how about a warning?

Well done ref - finally a yellow

Have some balls ref and give them another card

FFS!

England just duffing this up so badly.

That chance was like the lineout England bungled in the World Cup. Probably pivotal.

And Randall knocks on as well.

As usual - go to pot in the last 10-15

Just such dumb play.

Brainless

Ruck speed has slowed considerably with Randall on. He's got to be braver and up the tempo, he's got it in the locker.

Cole blew that one. Rucking and not looking at the ball. Need to tighten up asap. Whilst the game is still there. Too many breakdown turnovers now.

Feels like yet another game where England played like complete idiots for the last fifteen- twenty minutes. They had a chance there, they really did.

Gone now - usual story, good in parts but p*ss poor defence and decision making

Is it a fitness thing? Do they get to a point in the game where they are just so knackered that they can't make good decisions? Whatever it is, it is bloody infuriating.

At least they didn't get tomatoed I suppose

We wasted that yellow card period.

I’ve crunched the numbers

Ben Youngs has played in 16% of every England test ever played!

Worst run in 6 years. 5 defeats on the bounce. Borthwick now with less than a 50 per cent win rate. God he's out of his depth.

formerly known as Sam wrote:We wasted that yellow card period.

Indeed - arguably they should have been down to 13 but England would still have stuffed it up

That was a frustrating one. We had South Africa on the ropes towards the end there and then fluffed our lines. Absolutely criminal to butcher that lineout 5m from the line with the Boks on a warning.