It is the start of the Autumn Internationals for England as they step out against South Africa on Saturday at Twickenham. The reigning Six Nations champions open with Elliot Daly coming into the centre for his first start, while Tom Wood gets back in the line at open-side flanker. Coach Eddie Jones has some injury issues to work through with some of the notable absentees being James Haskell, Anthony Watson and Maro Itoje.
So they will go without some influential players, but you have to deal with that at International level and just get on with it. So the starting line up will be a blend of youth and experience, something which worked well for Jones in the Six Nations earlier in the year. This is also of course, a great chance to explore the depth of the English squad. So now they turn their attentions to the heavyweight South Africans.
The Springboks are out of form at the moment, but they are sending a heavy, heavy pack to Twickenham to take on England. South Africa have lost five of their last nine internationals and a notable hammering was dished out to them by New Zealand as well in that run, the Boks losing 57-15 against the world champions. So the South Africans are clearly there for the taking at the moment and head coach Allister Coetzee could have a difficult autumn.
They look as if they are going to go to type here and just try and batter England into submission up front. No other game plan has been working out for them so far. What could help the cause of the visitors is that it could be rain at Twickenham on the weekend, so the South Africans can disrupt England at the set pieces because of that as well. They have their threats in their set up, but they just aren’t doing anything cohesively at the moment and England are running as heavy favourites.
South Africa are actually on a twelve match unbeaten streak of form against England. The last time they squared off was back in November 2014 with the Boks winning 31-28. The majority of the last handful of games between these have been tight actually but you have to go all the way back to 2006 to find England’s last win over the Springboks. So will England be able to buck the trend and land win in this one? There is a price of an England -10 handicap up for grabs at online betting site Bet365 at 10/11
In the overall head to head between these two, England are trailing 12-23 against the Springboks, with two drawn matches. England have averaged 16 points per game against the Boks, while South Africa in return have averaged a total of 21 points per game against the English. That leaves a narrow +5 advantage for South Africa on average. Take into consideration the potentially tricky conditions that will be Twickenham and you could perhaps cut the handicap down to England -7 for 4/6.
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