England make four changes to face South Africa

Autumn Nations Series: England v South Africa

Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Saturday, 16 November Kick-off: 17:40 GMT

Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.

Scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and full-back Freddie Steward start for England against South Africa as head coach Steve Borthwick makes four changes to his starting XV.

The Leicester pair have yet to feature in the Autumn Nations Series but come straight into the line-up in place of Ben Spencer and George Furbank.

Ollie Sleightholme makes his first England start on the wing in place of the injured Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, while Sam Underhill comes in for Tom Curry, who is also missing with concussion.

Sleightholme is rewarded with a maiden Test start after scoring his first international tries in the defeat by Australia, as Tom Roebuck is named on the bench.

England, beaten 16-15 by South Africa in their 2023 World Cup semi-final, host the world champions looking for a first home win since the Six Nations in April.

Borthwick’s side have lost five of their past six matches, including narrow defeats from winning positions by New Zealand and the Wallabies this autumn.

England last tasted victory in June against Japan, who they face in their final Autumn Nations Series game on 24 November.

The Springboks arrive in London following victory over Scotland, having claimed their first Rugby Championship title since 2019 in September.

Head coach Rassie Erasmus has made 12 changes to the side who won at Murrayfield, with captain Siya Kolisi returning to the starting XV.

A change in style for England?
Both Van Poortvliet and Steward, known to Borthwick from his time at Leicester Tigers, were regular starters last year.

However, scrum-half Van Poortvliet suffered a tournament-ending injury before a ball was kicked at the World Cup, while Furbank took over the number 15 jersey from Steward during this year’s Six Nations.

“Jack is a player that was playing a lot of games for England prior to the World Cup in 2023 and then had that nasty injury,” Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He has worked exceptionally hard to come back from that.

“He had a couple of niggles last season and probably wasn’t quite at 100% but from what I have seen in training the last couple of weeks, the speed of ball Jack brings to the attacking game is exceptional and he is right up to his very best.”

England have shown signs of progress in their attacking intent and have led late on in each of their past four defeats.

Borthwick’s plan of kicking for both the posts and territory in a controlled performance nearly paid dividends against the Boks at the World Cup before a late Handre Pollard penalty denied them a spot in back-to-back finals.

The inclusion of Steward – a reassuring presence in the backfield and under the high ball – suggests England could be planning to kick for the skies to stifle their visitors and play for territory.

Borthwick added: “It is the right time to bring Freddie in for this game. He has trained really well and played really well for his club so far this season. George is available and I’m pleased with what he has done in the last couple of weeks but I felt it was a physical game for him last week.

“South Africa kick more contestable kicks than anybody else in the world. It means you have to be very good under the high ball and have to be good in chasing the high ball.”

Van Poortvliet, meanwhile, is a strong box-kicker and will try to manoeuvre England into better areas on the field as well as spotting opportunities to throw the ball wide for Marcus Smith to threaten the gainline.

The home crowd has yearned for more attacking rugby in recent weeks and, although England have gone some way towards delivering that, perhaps the best opportunity to get over the line against the world champions is to revert to type and play a controlled game.

Line-ups
England: Steward; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-South, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Cole, Isiekwe, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Roebuck.

South Africa: Fassi; Kolbe, Kriel, De Allende, Arendse; Libbok, Williams; Nche, Mbonambi, Loux, Etzebeth, Snyman, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Wiese.

Replacements: Marx, Steenekamp, Koch, Louw, Smith, Reinach, Pollard, Am.

Match officials
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby (Ireland)

Assistant Referee 2: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)