Tommy Freeman is brought in on the side.
| Autumn Internationals: England v South Africa |
| Venue: Twickenham Stadium Date: Saturday, 26 November Kick-off: 17:30 GMT |
| Coverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds |
live text Tommy Freeman of Northampton takes Jack Nowell’s place on the wing in one of four changes for England’s match against South Africa on Saturday.
Freeman only recently made his club comeback from a foot injury, despite his impressive performance on the summer tour of Australia.
Mako Vunipola and hooker Jamie George have been promoted to the starting lineup, while Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie remain on the bench.
To add a third line-out jumper, Sam Simmonds is being replaced as flanker by Alex Coles.
Ben Youngs, a Leicester teammate, is replaced at scrum half by Jack van Poortvliet.
Smit on Rugby Union Weekly: Erasmus’ behavior “making Boks easy to dislike” Nienaber: Springboks aren’t treated with respect “We’re going out there to light the crowd up,” said head coach Eddie Jones.
“We want to work hard on the pitch to ensure that we have another atmosphere like that again on Saturday,” the team said. “The support at Twickenham was outstanding last week.”
Before England stormed back to claim a 25-25 draw in the final ten minutes, the changes appear to counter some of the vulnerabilities that New Zealand was able to exploit for the majority of the match last weekend.
Cross-field kicks were directed at Nowell as he lined up against the taller Caleb Clarke, but Nowell was unable to make any ground with the ball in his hands.
Freeman, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall, can play full-back or on the wing.
When asked about Freeman’s inclusion, Jones told BBC Radio 5 Live, “We always wanted to get him back into the team.”
“We believe that he has the potential to become a very good player for us.”Tommy’s pace is something we like in our back three.
Genge struggled to contain opposite number Tyrel Lomax during the scrum against New Zealand, which put a lot of pressure on England’s pack.
Jones said that his first line changes were part of the way an endeavor to copy South Africa’s ‘bomb crew’ strategy of welcoming on apparently their more grounded triplet right off the bat in the final part.
“We want to try out the idea of the “bomb squad,” can we bring on a more powerful front row in the second half?”Added he.
“That is a powerful front row if you look at the guys we have there [on the bench] – Genge, Cowan-Dickie, and Will Stuart.”
Jones’ determination implies a similar first column – Vunipola, George, and tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler – that began the 2019 Rugby World Cup last against South Africa will take to the field at Twickenham.
He later admitted that for the 32-12 defeat in Yokohama, he should have chosen Joe Marler over Vunipola because of his scrambling power.
After Simmonds started alongside Tom Curry and Billy Vunipola against the All Blacks, Coles’ presence in the back row expands England’s line-out options.
Prior to their rout of Italy last weekend, South Africa suffered narrow defeats against Ireland and France.
Some players based outside of South Africa, like Leicester’s Jasper Wiese and Harlequins’ Andre Esterhuizen, have had to fulfill obligations to their clubs because the match took place outside of World Rugby’s window for international play.
However, Eben Etzebeth, Makazole Mapimpi, and Faf De Klerk are among the stars of Japan 2019 who are still in the strong lineup.
England: Steward; Freeman, Tuilagi, Farrell (capt), May; Smith, Van Poortvliet; M Vunipola, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Coles, Curry, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Ribbans, Simmonds, Youngs, Slade, Nowell.
South Africa: Le Roux; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Mapimpi; Willemse, De Klerk; Nche, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Orie, Kolisi (c), Mostert, Roos.
Replacements: Marx, Kitshoff, Du Toit, Van Staden, Smith, Hendrikse, Libbok, Moodie