[November Tests 2016 EOYT] England vs. South Africa (12/11/2016)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Twickenham
Time: 16:30 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

Teams

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Mako Vunipola

Substitutes: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te'o, 23 Jonathan Joseph

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19, Franco Mostert, 20, Nizaam Carr, 21, Faf de Klerk, 22, Johan Goosen, 23 Lionel Mapoe

 

[RoosTah]

As much as I'm hoping for a bok win (it's not often I support the boks, but green and gold will always be better than red and white ),I can't see them beating this current England side on the form they've shown through the RC... Hope they prove me wrong though

 

[Every Time Ref]

Bang up for this. If Ireland can break a century long streak then I'm sure we can break a decade long one. And if we can't beat this SA side at this stage when we're on this form then it's hard to see when we're ever going to do it. My feeling is we'll win but Jess comfortably than I would like. Less than 7.

Picked up tickets during the week as well, good score. Excited for this.

 

[Sotavalta]

I really want SA to at least keep one record... but to be honest we have been playing bad this entire year and we keep on making excuses for it. Even with all the injuries England has, I am still saying England will win this match with 10 - 15 points (this might change when I see the Springbok lineup).

 

[TRF_heineken]

Never underestimate a wounded bok!

The pressure is certainly on us, and many have written us off for this match. But I am of the suspicion that we will be able to win the English.

The Baabaas game was great to get our youngsters a run at international level and to see who can make that step up. Now that our experienced players returning and also more time together along with the new coaches, I think there might be a few surprizes.

It all depends though on the team selected, and I hope they don't make the mistake of playing JPP at 13!

 

[Sotavalta]

Never underestimate a wounded bok!

The pressure is certainly on us, and many have written us off for this match. But I am of the suspicion that we will be able to win the English.

The Baabaas game was great to get our youngsters a run at international level and to see who can make that step up. Now that our experienced players returning and also more time together along with the new coaches, I think there might be a few surprizes.

It all depends though on the team selected, and I hope they don't make the mistake of playing JPP at 13!

To be honest I have been hearing a lot of south africans saying "never underestimate a wounded bok" since the RC and we just keep on playing sh*t.

I have a feeling AC is still going to pick DDA and JPP.

 

[saulan]

My prediction is that England will be 20 points up with 10 minutes remaining, then the Boks will have their second wind they have been having for most of the season to reduce the final score deficit to between 7-12.

 

[unrated]

I guess it would be foolish to expect a win for SA. England are the favourites and any other result will be a surprise its as simple as that.
I hope a combination of the following will make us more competitive at least. The new additions to the coaching staff. The inclusion of some players that has received widespread public backing and a greater sense of continuity as AC has passed his honeymoon period and he cant claim that the team is still new and combinations are still forming. Has anyone noticed how AC and co has been speaking about a change in mindset to a more attacking style despite the fact that he is on record a month or so ago claiming that attacking rugby is a fairy tale and that we simply dont have the skills to attempt it.

England has done well in getting specialist coaches to assist them with specific aspects of the game like the judo and league coaches. I expect us to win against Italy and Wales if we lose this game.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Wonder if Jones will go for Marler or Genge.

How has Marler's club form been?

 

[TRF_heineken]

I guess it would be foolish to expect a win for SA. England are the favourites and any other result will be a surprise its as simple as that.
I hope a combination of the following will make us more competitive at least. The new additions to the coaching staff. The inclusion of some players that has received widespread public backing and a greater sense of continuity as AC has passed his honeymoon period and he cant claim that the team is still new and combinations are still forming. Has anyone noticed how AC and co has been speaking about a change in mindset to a more attacking style despite the fact that he is on record a month or so ago claiming that attacking rugby is a fairy tale and that we simply dont have the skills to attempt it.

England has done well in getting specialist coaches to assist them with specific aspects of the game like the judo and league coaches. I expect us to win against Italy and Wales if we lose this game.

I can't accept that defeatist attitude. It's the Rooinekke we are talking about! It's the one team we love to hate (yes, even more than the Wallabies), and we always bring our A game when we play them.

 

[Sotavalta]

The team I would like to see against England:

15. Ruan Combrinck
14. Sergeal Petersen
13. Francois Venter/Lionel Mapoe (not sure. Lions chemistry might work)
12. Rohan Janse Van Rensburg
11. Jamba Ulengo
10. Patrick Lambie
9. Faf de Klerk
8. Warren Whiteley
7. Jean-Luc du Preez
6. Roelof Smit
5. Pieter-Steph Du Toit
4. Eben Etzebeth
3. Lourens Adriaanse
2. Adriaan Strauss
1. Tendai Mtawarira

 

[Every Time Ref]

I can't accept that defeatist attitude. It's the Rooinekke we are talking about! It's the one team we love to hate (yes, even more than the Wallabies), and we always bring our A game when we play them.

You as well?! I lose track of who says we're their Number 1 Enemy, it's exhausting being this hated!

 

[unrated]

I can't accept that defeatist attitude. It's the Rooinekke we are talking about! It's the one team we love to hate (yes, even more than the Wallabies), and we always bring our A game when we play them.

I get what you are saying. Records and stats point to a South Africa win. The problem is that we have not seen a complete performance yet. To believe we are going to do that against England is hopeful at best.Many of us have been scarred by the Ireland series and the RC
Even the slightest indication of something positive will change my expectations
But its a paradox. Expect a win and set yourself up for possible chronic disappointment or expect to lose and experience higher levels of joy when you win. I always give my team a chance whether its the Sharks playing with 13 men in Christchurch or the woefully out of form Springboks playing a form team at home. But from an objective point of view England has to be favoured to win. If we can pull of a win the chances of achieving a grand slam will skyrocket and it will restore some much needed faith in the national team.

 

[TommiG88]

Nervous for this game as we have a gash recent record against the Boks.

The pack will be interesting to see with the various injuries. I won't be predicting a result.

 

[Sotavalta]

Looks like the English media is having a field day with the Springboks performance.

Link: http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/springboks-in-turmoil-say-english-press-20161107

 

[Sker]

You as well?! I lose track of who says we're their Number 1 Enemy, it's exhausting being this hated!

Ah it's okay mate, I still like you, you're not too bad.

Your rugby team is a bunch of assholes though and I hope you lose.

 

[Which Tyler]

You as well?! I lose track of who says we're their Number 1 Enemy, it's exhausting being this hated!

Yeah, we're everyone's #1 enemy, the likes of Wales, Ireland, Scotland etc just can't understand that we know they hate us, but are too busy hating the Aussies and French to really care very much.
I think the Italians may hate the French even more than they hate us, but we're probably #2 on their list.

 

[Groundhog]

Nah man you're not enemy number one when when the colonials and savages dare to venture into our hemisphere. Bully for England I say. Give them a right old rogering. I'm turning white when the game is on.
You can **** right back off when the six nations comes around though. Shower of arrogant pricks.

 

[Sker]

Nah man you're not enemy number one when when the colonials and savages dare to venture into our hemisphere. Bully for England I say. Give them a right old rogering. I'm turning white when the game is on.
You can **** right back off when the six nations comes around though. Shower of arrogant pricks.

Wha..

wait.. Wha..?

I'm heartbroken.

HEARTBROKEN

 

[TRF_heineken]

You as well?! I lose track of who says we're their Number 1 Enemy, it's exhausting being this hated!

The English put my great-great grandparents in concentration camps... And they didn't even had ADD!!

I get what you are saying. Records and stats point to a South Africa win. The problem is that we have not seen a complete performance yet. To believe we are going to do that against England is hopeful at best.Many of us have been scarred by the Ireland series and the RC
Even the slightest indication of something positive will change my expectations
But its a paradox. Expect a win and set yourself up for possible chronic disappointment or expect to lose and experience higher levels of joy when you win. I always give my team a chance whether its the Sharks playing with 13 men in Christchurch or the woefully out of form Springboks playing a form team at home. But from an objective point of view England has to be favoured to win. If we can pull of a win the chances of achieving a grand slam will skyrocket and it will restore some much needed faith in the national team.

I get that, and the chance is there that we will lose by a very big margin like that match where Jannes Labuschagne got a red card. But We have already had that ass-whooping handed to us by NZ, and since then, we have identified a lot of our weaknesses, and have addressed that issue.

The question is if we can improve on our weaknesses, while still using our strengths. I think the inclusion of Roelof Smit for example to our pack will give us more chances to attack the breakdown areas. And I see a lot of people say that it's where we were weak against the Baa-baas. But lets take it in perspective: The entire Baa-baas team consisted of SH players only. Not a single player from the home nations or France. The loose trio were all fetcher type players, and the ref was very lenient at the breakdowns to keep the spectacle of the Baa-baas game going.

Against England we know they'll have a massive pack, but so do we. They'll try to overpower us, but so will we. The battle will definitely be up front... But I think the match will be won on which backline will perform the best. If Lambie can improve on his kicking from the baabaas game, then we have a chance. He looked pretty good and he was the most experienced player in the backline.