Stuart Lancaster makes just one change to the England team to play South Africa this weekend, with Anthony Watson winning his first start on the wing in place of injured Bath teammate Semesa Rokoduguni.
Video credit: Rugby Media
Lancaster otherwise keeps the faith with the side that lost 24-21 to New Zealand last weekend, with Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and Kyle Eastmond all passed fit to start. Marland Yarde takes Watson’s place on the bench.
Do you think this side will beat South Africa this weekend?
England team to play South Africa:
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 30 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
13. Brad Barritt (Saracens, 19 caps)
12. Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby, 5 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 8 caps)
10. Owen Farrell (Saracens, 26 caps)
9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 49 caps)
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 23 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 58 caps)
3. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)
4. Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 13 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 33 caps)
6. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 31 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 29 caps, captain)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 11 caps)
Replacements
16. Rob Webber (Bath Rugby, 9 caps)
17. Matt Mullan (Wasps, 6 caps)
18. Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 3 caps)
19. George Kruis (Saracens, 1 cap)
20. Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 24 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 39 caps)
22. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 3 caps)
23. Marland Yarde (Harlequins, 5 caps)
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Well I wasn’t expecting to see Watson in ahead of Yarde, but not disappointed. Probably got a bit more pace than Yarde, and as a winger/full back he has a better positional sense as well. Watson will help Brown out at the back as Brown seems to me to want to try and run everything back at the moment, and he doesn’t really like passing the ball either. I would like to see Yarde get on early in the second half and Watson move to full back.
Presume Watson can kick reasonably well? If so, gives us at least one more option for relieving pressure. Hope he grabs his chance as he looks to be a talented guy
I’m disappointed that Haskell isn’t in for Wood. We lacked ball-carriers in the pack to get us over the gain line against NZ and the problem is only going to be magnified against the massive Springbok pack
Still, am looking forward to the first Vunipola vs Vermuelen/Burger collision!
Think England have it in them to beat this SA side but they’ll need to do as the Irish did and give the Boks no time on the ball and drive them back in the tackle. Also need to shut Le Roux and Pietersen down quickly. Any aimless kicks will be dangerous.
Agree on Haskell. Wood needs a big performance. It wasn’t just his carrying that was suspect, his penalty count was bad too. Morgan is due a start too.
I just hope that if OF & MB have ano poor game that SL has the guts to to move Watson to fb and let Ford and Eastmond play as a unit. I suspect he won’t. Ano option would be to bring Wood off and move BV to 6 in the latter part of the match?
I like your idea of bringing Morgan on and moving Billy to 6. Will carry just as well from 6, and knows how to defend there. Wonder if SL has thought of this option? Hopefully Wood will have a better game this weekend.
Sadly SL seems to be so robotic in his subs that I can’t see it happening. He’s not tried it yet in the last 12 months.
Alternative squad? Been thinking about this for a while, with so many people sharing their views on who should be in the squad etc, and thought I would share my alternative England squad. Made up of some uncapped players,, and some players who are capped, and maybe should be in the squad?
1. Nathan Catt
2. Jamie George
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Graham Kitchener
5. Michael Patterson
6. Dave Ewers
7. Will Fraser
8. James Haskell (c)
9. Ben Spencer
10. Danny Cipriani
11. David Strettle
12. Henry Slade
13. Elliot Daly
14. Christian Wade
15. Jack Nowell
Haven’t got as far as the bench yet.
Interesting idea. Mine, discounting any injuries:
1. Mako Vunipola
2. Jack Yeandle
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Ed Slater (c)
5. Stuart Hooper
6. Carl Fearns
7. Luke Wallace
8. Dave Ewers
9. Dan Robson
10. Henry Slade
11. Alex Lewington
12. Sam Hill
13. Henry Trinder
14. Charlie Sharples
15. Chris Pennell
Deliberately trying to find a different player for each position
I didn’t put Mako in my line up because they’re still not sure when he’ll be fit. A lot of good centres coming through at the moment. Sam Hill at Exeter, Nick Tomkins at Sarries, Olly Devoto at Bath. The future is bright in the midfield for England.
Everyone bemoans that the Northern Hemisphere is behind the Southern. Although this is still true, how can we deny that the balance has shifted to a more level playing field?
It was only 5-8 years ago that any visit of the big three would usually result in a cricket score drubbing against a Home Nation. Now, every victory of the SH is a hard fought slog, and an upset is never far off the cards. Ireland did it last week. Hopefully there will be one or two this weekend as well!
Dazza
I’d swap Ewers and Haskell round. Haskell is a 6 and the times I’ve seen Ewers play he’s played at 8. Otherwise pretty decent. I’m not sure why everyone still wants Strettle. He’s proved time and again he can’t hack it at international level.
I was torn between which one should play 6 or 8. I know Ewers has been playing 6 a lot recently because of Waldrom. Haskell has been playing mostly at 7 for Wasps lately, but would be happy to see him anywhere across the back row.
I put Strettle in because I think he is the most on form winger at the moment. I can see why SL wouldn’t pick him, but I think he’s in the best form of his life. At the moment he seems to be finishing every opportunity given to him, and you can’t ask anymore from your winger than that. Also struggling to think of any other wingers comfortable on the left that are in the same form as him?
Yet another ex-public schoolboy capped by England…
?
Thanks Comrade
I hope this isn’t SL being loyal to a fault…
With the lack of carrying being an issue last week, i thought Haskell might have been an option given an injury to Wood or not. Similarly Brown continued to show he may not be the best choice at the moment but is now the time to change..?.
I would have swapped Vunipola for Wood and put Morgan to 8 and Haskell on the bench. I don’t think 1 lineup is right for every match and England should adjust the starting 15 for the team they face. I think its common sense some players are better suited to different opposition than others and if we have a balanced squad then we should be able to interchange shouldn’t we?
How about giving Matt Mullan a go @ prop (& no, I’m not on commission)? I’d also start Haskell. Confident, exp, can play 6 or 7. If not now, when? Dazza mentioned 10. Danny Cipriani & 11. David Strettle. I’d say the former is a MUST, as Farrell reps a sleeping policeman for England. Basically he’s a kicker & a tackler. Playing 4 Saracens & v the SH is a diff story altogether. More is re’qed @ fly1/2. Always liked Strettle as he seemed to play with no fear & punched above his weight in ‘D’ I thought; & esp even from his early days @ Quins. Pity Wade’s not in either, altho he may suffer from ball starvation like Roko. Players like him (& Tom Varndell; is he so inferior to the other wings?) HAVE to have quick ball, otherwise forget it. Anyway, IMO England have go to go out & play as though they’re 10 pts down with 10 to play, otherwise… but who knows? Crunch time for both sides’ cred for sure. Ouch! Go you good things, go!
Will
Have heard this before, but is losing by less is real progress? I mean you mention SA, who beat the ABs recently, but they themselves have lost to, e.g., Scotland in recent yrs. To put too much stock in 5 ‘close’ loses v NZ doesn’t seem to have convinced too many rugger pundits of late. Again, SCW; ‘It’s all about winning’1 England need 2 start this now.!
Spot on
There is no more time for building the wins have to come and come quickly, for this team to be counted as contenders.
This is a good England team but we have still yet to see the test match animals take it to the next level and find a way to win a match in the heat of battle. I struggle to see the cutting edge in this team. We still seam to talking about what guys have the potential to do rather than what they do do.
The lack of England players int he Lions team that won in Aus was telling, of those that featured several are injured.
AS for the weekend: I like Watson I would have had him in anyway, however we seem to be very lightweight. I is going to be easy to mark Billy as there are few players who will carry the ball past the gainline.
i knew Haskell would not make the squad. Simply brought in as injury cover and was never going to make the 23.
I don’t look forward to seeing Woods vs Coetzee. Wish we had Haskell, heck even Dave Ewer would have been a better choice to allow Robshaw to do what he wants.
I think a few of us are in agreement here, that we need a 6 who does more than tackle and defend. Wood is a good carrier of the ball and relatively quick for a big guy. But he’s not getting in the right positions to do this. It could be down to instruction? Maybe they don’t want him taking the ball up? If so, then they need to give Billy V someone else who can. Attwood is someone else who carries well, so get him into positions where he can take the ball up in attack.
At the moment the difference between England and the SH teams is that we rely on one player (Billy V) to do 90% of the forward carrying. The SH teams will have 3 or 4 forwards all tasked with carrying as much as possible. I want to see Lawes and Attwood getting involved more around this area, as they’re both big guys who are difficult to tackle.
Totally agree with dazza. England need more going forward so if they fail against SA I think SL might have some explaining to do