Amid all the talk of a breakaway league and global franchises, it is perhaps fitting that Twickenham is serving up a classic Test match this weekend.
The build-up to England hosting South Africa has included plenty of discussion around a new competition that would shake up the club game.
Taking elements from the likes of Formula 1, LIV Golf and the Indian Premier League, franchises would reportedly tour the globe with teams that are packed with the game’s biggest stars.
Such discussions are said to be in their infancy and, whatever the end result of them is, the importance and power of international rugby cannot be forgotten.
England hosting South Africa on Saturday is a game that needs no introduction, especially not when you consider how Steve Borthwick’s side come into this Test.
This was meant to be an autumn of progress for England, but instead it is turning into one to forget. They have suffered narrow defeats at the hands of New Zealand and Australia – and now the Springboks are in town.
The back-to-back World Champions have played 11 Tests since lifting the trophy last year in Paris. They have won nine of them and lost twice, with those two losses by only a point.
South Africa defeated England by a point in the semi-finals on their way to winning the World Cup last year and there is bad blood between the two sides after that.
A race row erupted when England’s Tom Curry claimed he had been called a “white c***” by Bongi Mbonambi, an allegation denied by the South Africa hooker. Writing in The Times this week, former England captain Courtney Lawes admitted there was “genuine antagonism” between the two sides and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi echoed that when speaking on Friday.
“It’s always personal,” said Kolisi. “That’s just how we prepare ourselves for games. It’s got to be personal.
“It’s another man trying to run through you in-game, it doesn’t get more personal than that. So every game for us is personal.
“We know we’ve got a target on our back at all times. Every single team that plays against us… we’ve got to make it as personal as possible because we want to stay where we are.”
England may be having a difficult autumn, but a victory against South Africa would transform it. After two defeats on the spin, Borthwick has made four changes to his side, with full-back Freddie Steward, wing Ollie Sleightholme, scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and flanker Sam Underhill all starting.
The inclusion of Steward points to Borthwick predicting Saturday being a battle of the skies, with the new kicking rules in place this autumn playing into that, too.
Every game for us is personal
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi
“You don’t want to turn rugby union into Aussie rules. I thought our game was in pretty good shape. There has been a fundamental change here,” Borthwick said.
“It’s a pretty small sample size so far, but we’re seeing a great increase in the number of kicks, in the number of contestable kicks, in the number of scrums and in the number of loose balls. That’s only going to increase.”
South Africa, like England, have made changes. In total, Rassie Erasmus has swapped out 12 players from last Sunday’s win in Scotland, citing the tight turnaround as the reason why.
Intriguingly, the Springboks have opted for a 5-3 split on the bench after naming seven forwards on the bench last week.
Few would have seen that coming and over two hours before England named their team, Erasmus was correctly predicting what Borthwick would do.
“Freddie will be at full-back, definitely,” he said. “He’s one of the best in the world.”
Erasmus and South Africa have shown in the past how they have England’s number – and they would appear to again.
Borthwick must prove they don’t or else England face the unwanted prospect of making it five defeats on the spin.
