England v South Africa: Captain Siya Kolisi returns for Springboks
Autumn Nations Series: England vs. South Africa
Location: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Saturday, November 16 Time: 5:40 PM GMT
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Reigning world champions South Africa have announced 12 alterations to their starting lineup for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series clash against England at Allianz Stadium this Saturday.
Captain Siya Kolisi and former world player of the year Pieter-Steph du Toit are back in the back row, and winger Cheslin Kolbe has also been included in the lineup.
Even though he had seven forwards available on the bench during the 32-15 victory against Scotland, head coach Rassie Erasmus has chosen a traditional lineup of five forwards and three backs for his substitutes.
Meanwhile, England has made four substitutions to the team that lost to Australia.
In their most recent encounter during the 2023 World Cup semi-final, South Africa secured a narrow victory over England, winning 16-15 thanks to a late penalty kick by Handre Pollard.
The Bok team features 15 players who played against Steve Borthwick's team in Paris, and Leicester Tigers fly-half Pollard is listed among the substitutes.
"Facing England presents a unique set of difficulties for Scotland, and we chose our team with our game plan in mind as well as what we believe will be most effective in tackling the challenges that England brings," Erasmus stated.
Luckily, we have several players who can easily take on different roles if needed. This gives us enough depth across the team, enabling us to choose this group of substitutes.
England has experienced four consecutive losses lately, including close games in their first two autumn Tests against New Zealand and Australia.
Erasmus, on the other hand, asserts that previous outcomes hold no significance when the two teams face off again in London.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Erasmus stated, "When you have the right players and effective leadership, it can really energize the team, especially after playing two closely contested matches like these."
"The truth is, we are up against England—a team we rarely defeat on our home turf. We anticipate that they will come in strong and motivated for their coaches. They have complete confidence in their ability to win against us."
Erasmus mentioned, "England has faced two close losses recently, but they played well in both games, which makes us aware of the difficulty we will face."
"We had close defeats against Ireland and France in consecutive games in 2022, but just a year later, we became world champions. This shows us that we shouldn't put too much weight on our recent outcomes."
England: Steward; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (captain), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-South, Underhill, Earl.
Substitutes: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Cole, Isiekwe, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Roebuck.
South Africa's team lineup includes Fassi; Kolbe, Kriel, De Allende, Arendse; Libbok, Williams; Nche, Mbonambi, Loux, Etzebeth, Snyman, Kolisi (captain), Du Toit, and Wiese.
Substitutes: Marx, Steenekamp, Koch, Louw, Smith, Reinach, Pollard, Am
Referee: Andrew Brace from Ireland
Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby from Ireland
Assistant Referee 2: Eoghan Cross from Ireland
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) The Television Match Official (TMO) for this game will be Ben Whitehouse from Wales.
