Steve Borthwick is strongly considering handing recalls to scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet and full-back Freddie Steward for the clash against South Africa on Saturday.
The England head coach is already facing two enforced changes after winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and flanker Tom Curry were ruled out after both suffered a concussion in the 42-37 defeat by Australia.
That extended England’s losing run to four matches and Telegraph Sport understands that Borthwick is weighing up making further changes to his back line, particularly at scrum-half.
Van Poortvliet has not played for England since suffering an ankle ligament injury in a World Cup warm-up match against Wales that ruled him out of the tournament. Ben Spencer, who has never won a game for England, has started England’s opening two matches in the autumn but Telegraph Sport understands that he will be dropped against the Springboks with Van Poortvliet and Bristol Bears’ Harry Randall vying for the No 9 shirt. Borthwick made repeated references to his side going off script against Australia and it appears Spencer will pay the price.
Van Poortvliet’s Leicester team-mate Steward could also be in line for a recall at the expense of George Furbank, who has struggled to make his mark in the autumn so far. Steward’s phenomenal ability under the high ball has also been elevated by a World Rugby law that has created more contestable kicks.
England are understood to be unhappy with the directive that is asking referees to crack down on “escort” runners who block the path of attacking chasers. While Furbank offers an extra play-making option in the back line that Borthwick wanted to be a feature of England’s attacking identity, Steward’s aerial ability now carries an extra premium, as senior assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth suggested on Tuesday.
“Anyone with good aerial skills [benefits from the changes],” Wigglesworth said. “But if you are chasing the ball and you don’t have to catch it, it doesn’t matter if you are 7ft 5in, because the guy only has to get his hand in, and knock it back. In terms of aerial skills, we have got Tommy Freeman who is exceptional in the air, we’ve got other guys – you’ve seen Manny [Feyi-Waboso] get a couple of balls back where he’s actually caught it, which is an exceptional skill in itself.
“It’s something we asked all our back three guys to have, before this rule came in. Now it’s become more important but what that area looks like and how unstructured it is around there has definitely changed.”
Winger Ollie Sleightholme, who scored two tries off the bench against Australia, is likely to fill the wing spot vacated by Feyi-Waboso. Tom Curry is likely to be replaced by either his twin brother Ben or Bath flanker Sam Underhill.
After naming his team on Tuesday leading into their matches against New Zealand and Australia, Borthwick has moved his team announcement back to Thursday. Indications from within the camp are that he will delay announcing it until the last possible moment, with the Springboks also due to announce their side following a six-day turnaround from their 32-15 victory against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Whoever comes into the side, England know they will have to defend a lot better than they did against the Wallabies, when they conceded five tries and missed 35 tackles. Centre Henry Slade is adamant that their defensive system, which was introduced by Felix Jones and is being carried over by Joe El-Abd, will bear fruit.
“I feel like it is such a way of defending that if there is not a full buy-in, then cracks do appear,” Slade said. “The longer we have training, the more understanding everyone has as a group. I think it can be a really powerful way of defending so we are trying to fast-track that learning. I feel this week there has been a big step forward in that regard. More emphasis put on it.
“The thing with England is there are so many players from different clubs playing and getting thrown together. When you look at other countries, for example you have got Scotland, who have got two clubs; Ireland, a lot of the boys play for Leinster and they are together a long time. Us in England, there are people coming from a lot of different places, people play different ways at their clubs – we have got to figure out how to fast-track it and get everyone on that same page a bit quicker because we have shown glimpses in the games when we have done it really well.
“The defence can be really strong, really powerful, we have got to get on the same page. How we have been doing that is seeing clips, how we have been dealing with things and working out solutions and making it clear in what situation we do what.”
