England look to bounce back against South Africa
By Patrick Khachfe
November 23 2012
Stuart Lancaster has made six changes to his side for Saturday's clash with South Africa as England continue their search for a major southern hemisphere scalp this autumn.
The Stuart Lancaster regime suffered its first major setback last weekend after a naive England side stumbled their way to a 14 - 20 loss at the hands of an improved Wallabies outfit. An impressive Six Nations campaign got the new dawn off to a promising start, and whilst the series in South Africa was lost 2-0, there were plenty of positives to take from it. Now was supposed to be the time for this young England team to take another step forward and claim a big southern hemisphere scalp or two. As a result of the loss though, the heat has been turned up a notch and although Head Coach Stuart Lancaster remains unflustered, there’s been a freshening up of the match-day squad. Joe Launchbury will make his first Test start as England make six changes for Saturday's Test against South Africa. The lock, 21, replaces Wasps team-mate Tom Palmer, who drops out of the 23, as one of four changes to the pack. Prop Alex Corbisiero starts in place of the injured Joe Marler, and Tom Wood and Ben Morgan come into the back row for Tom Johnson and Thomas Waldrom. Ben Youngs is recalled at scrum-half, swapping shirts with Danny Care who drops to the bench, while Mike Brown starts on the left wing, in place of Charlie Sharples, who was also dropped from the match-day squad. South Africa meanwhile have named an unchanged starting XV Saturday’s Test in a match Head Coach Heyneke Meyer has called the ultimate test, although there are fitness concerns over wing JP Pietersen and prop Gurthro Steenkamp. Eben Etzebeth, who was cleared on Tuesday of making contact with the eyes of Scotland fly-half Greig Laidlaw, starts in the second row.
The Springboks aim to complete a clean sweep of tour wins, following victories against Ireland and Scotland. Whilst the Boks’ run of nine consecutive Test wins against England ended in the drawn Test in the Summer in Port Elizabeth, they will nonetheless be looking for their fourth straight win at Twickenham. In a move that replicates the tactics employed on that Summer tour, and that appear tailor-made for the game at the weekend, the England coaching team has seen fit to field two fullbacks in the form of Alex Goode and Mike Brown. As opposed to the clever attacking game the Wallabies present, the Boks will be far less subtle, opting for the direct route and applying pressure through their big and powerful forwards, in the set-piece and around the fringes, and with the boot of scrum half Ruan Pienaar to put them in the right positions. With both Brown and Goode on the field at the same time England will be looking to nullify or at the very least deal with the Springbok kicking game. Northampton's Tom Wood is one to benefit from the England re-shuffle with a promotion to the blindside flanker berth at the expense of Exeter's Tom Johnson. Ben Morgan takes over from Leicester's Thomas Waldrom who started the previous two matches. Question marks about Morgan’s ability to live with the pace and intensity of Test match rugby for eighty minutes still remain, but Lancaster will be hoping that he brings some of that go-forward dynamism that proved so effective for England in the Six Nations.
With Tom Palmer struggling with injury, Joe Launchbury is given his first England start and Lancaster has no doubts that the Wasps man has the game to cope with what is sure to be a physical Boks challenge. "He is a great athlete," explained the England boss, "but with that athleticism he has a very good rugby brain and seems to pop up in the right places at the right time...The challenge for him now is to deal with the demands of stepping up to the starting slot in an international game and there's none bigger than South Africa at home." On his decision to start with the all-Leicester halfback pairing of fly-half Toby Flood and Youngs, he said: "We are very fortunate to have two high quality No.9s and we want Ben to take this opportunity. He's got a great kicking game and his partnership with Toby will be crucial but we are also sure that Danny will come off the bench and make a difference." England’s decision-making came in for some major criticism last weekend, notably to run three penalties rather than opting to kick for the posts and close the deficit with plenty of time remaining. In a match that will surely be even tougher, Chris Robshaw and his players will have to make sure their tactical awareness is spot on, in a match where fine margins will surely once again decide proceedings. Although a Top 4 place in the world rankings is now looking unlikely, England will be desperate to notch up a second win of the autumn and build momentum heading into the final weekend against world champions New Zealand, and the Six Nations in the new year. England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero. South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp. Date: Saturday 24 November
|
