England team winners and losers: Steve Borthwick ‘rolls the dice’ in selection: Planet Rugby

After Steve Borthwick’s England squad face South Africa in their third Autumn Nations Series Test this weekend, here are our winners and losers.

Winners

Returning Leicester duo

Borthwick has rolled the dice on his backline and brought back two of his previous Leicester Tigers favorites in Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet. Just over a year ago the pair would have been two of the first names on Borthwick’s England team sheet, but now they are in need of a big achievement if they want to remain in the starting XV.

Steward was excellent against the Springboks in last year’s World Cup semi-final, and his selection once again makes sense this time around. His skills in the air make him a very valuable weapon, especially with Manie Libbok’s clever kicking game, and with the new laws surrounding escorts, it’s a good time to throw him back in.

Teammate Van Poortvliet has played quite well for Leicester so far this season, arguably better than his pre-injury form. He’s a fairly stable nine, but he’s also much more of a threat during the slump due to his sniping ability. It’s an interesting decision though, but it will be good to see how he fits into this England attack.

Henry Slade

Exeter Chiefs back Henry Slade is a lucky man this weekend as he retains his place in the side despite a poor performance last time out. Yes, he was moved to twelve players, but he still missed the most tackles of anyone on the field with five and couldn’t create a single attack in attack. Slade, both in his interests and in the interests of England, cannot afford another defensive disaster against opponent Damian de Allende this weekend. He’s credited as the leader of the blitz defense, and maybe this time he’ll actually play full defense at 13 instead of a combination of both, but either way, if he has a repeat of his performance from last week, he could it is that he spends another spell away from the England squad.

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Sales duo

George Ford and Tom Roebuck are certainly winners this week, as both men are on the bench. Fly-half Ford has been the focus of many fans’ ire lately, and there were quite a few groans throughout the Allianz Stadium when they saw him come on, but we all know what he can do when he’s on top form. Yes, it hasn’t been his best autumn, and yes, there can be an argument about him still not being fully fit after a long layoff, but this could be the week for him that everything works out.

Winger Roebuck has been called up to replace the injured Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, and while it is not a comparable move, the Sale man is a classy player. His aerial qualities are comparable to those of Steward and Tommy Freeman, and if he takes the field it will only complement the type of attacking England say they will deploy this weekend.

Sam Underhill

This could be England’s secret weapon against the Boks, with Sam Underhill returning to the side for the first time since the July tour. Underhill is a true Test player and has seemingly never played a bad game for England, but this weekend more than ever he will provide a huge boost to the defense. He can make consistent dominant tackles, which is exactly what England lacked in their defeats to New Zealand and Australia, and against an imposing Springboks pack this will be crucial.

Then Cole

Another man potentially lucky to keep his place in the side is Dan Cole, who has struggled to get his usual stability in the scrum this autumn. Normally he is Mr Reliable in the set-piece, but in November he was left short by much more aggressive packs, and it is perhaps the main cause of England’s scrum problems late in games.

While he may not be at his usual best given that he is in the latter stages of his career, he proved everyone wrong in the last outing against South Africa and could easily do so again.

Losers

Ben Spencer

This feels like a very harsh decision as he hasn’t really done much wrong this autumn, but Ben Spencer was completely dropped from the England 23 this weekend. His combination with Marcus Smith was perhaps the reason the Quins 10 played so well, and his box-kicking was key to getting them on the field, but Borthwick has seen fit to drop the Bath skipper in favor of Van Poortvliet. . Maybe he wants more threat around the ruck? But other than that I don’t really see a reason to drop it.

George Furbank

This again feels a bit harsh, but the change at 15 is slightly more understandable given the new laws and the way the Springboks like to play. Furbank also never fully caught on in the games against New Zealand and Australia, and certainly didn’t have the impact he had in the summer, so perhaps this is the change Borthwick needed to make to freshen up the Northampton man. There’s certainly an argument to be made for benching him, but that might have been the idea if they had gone with a 6:2 split.

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Alex Lozowski

You thought this weekend was the time to change the midfield partnership, but again Alex Lozowski is missing from the selection. The Saracens man is a quality player and would have brought a new dynamic to the attack, as he has done at club level this season, but he continues to be overlooked. It makes you wonder if he’ll even be in action against Japan next weekend.

Ted Hill

If not now, when? This could have been the perfect game to use Ted Hill given his all-round play. The Bath flanker is also someone who can make consistent dominant tackles around the tight, but he would also have functioned as another ball carrier that England desperate need. His blazing speed and athleticism make him a real threat on the park, but he can also run tough in traffic when necessary. He would also have been a good option at the lineout given the depth the Boks have with Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth and RG Snyman. You get the feeling Borthwick has missed a trick here.

Trevor Davison

Another player who could have made a real difference is Trevor Davison. Will Stuart has performed admirably for England so far this autumn, but as mentioned above the scrum has not functioned at all when Cole came on the pitch, and Davison is said to have solved this problem. He’s been the anchor of a dominant Northampton scrum for some time now, and you get the feeling he could have held his own against the Boks if he was called upon.

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