England v South Africa 3-NOV-2018 - Autumn International

England start their Quilter Autumn Internationals against the 'Spring Bok' and frankly I am not holding much hope for a win.  Call me a pessimist but I am not inspired at all by England at the moment.  I hope they prove me wrong on Saturday but I doubt it!

England v South Africa

Quilter Autumn International

Saturday 3rd November 2018 - Twickenham 3 pm Kick off

(Live on Sky Sports)

England once again set off into the unknown with a new look side, yes I can understand the reasoning but by now I would have thought Eddie would have had a settled squad in mind.   Yes we have injuries, yes people have retired but I am not confident at all with our thinking or set up.

Being honest I think England peaked three years ago just after the last Rugby World Cup.   All Eddie had to do was come in and motivate and give confidence to the players and off they went.    Shame the previous management squad could not have done that.

Now we have a situation three and bit years on, with uncertainty and I am not sure Eddie is inspiring the players anymore.

Oh well time will tell!  I hope I am very wrong. 

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“We’ve become very well organised in our set piece and have done a lot of good work in Portugal over the last week," said Jones. "We have put in a new defence system and our attack looks more organised than it was on the South Africa tour.”
 
On taking on South Africa Jones said: “Against South Africa you have got the physical battle up front and then you have to be tactically smart in how you attack against them. We need to find ways to gain momentum, then once we find momentum, convert that to points. 
 
“We are really excited to be back at Twickenham Stadium. It’s been a long time and we can’t wait to play in front of 82,000 fans.” 

Breaking>>>2/11/18>>>>Sale wing Chris Ashton has been brought back into the England squad for Saturday's Test against South Africa following an injury to Manu Tuilagi.

England: Elliot Daly; Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Ben Te'o, Jonny May; Owen Farrell (co-captain), Ben Youngs; Alec Hepburn, Dylan Hartley (co-captain), Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Brad Shields, Tom Curry, Mark Wilson.

Replacements: Jamie George, Ben Moon, Harry Williams, Charlie Ewels, Zach Mercer, Danny Care, George Ford, Manu Tuilagi.  Chris Ashton

South Africa: Damian Willemse; Sbu Nkosi, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Aphiwe Dyantyi; Handre Pollard, Ivan van Zyl; Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Duane Vermeulen, Warren Whiteley.

Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Lood de Jager, Embrose Papier, Elton Jantjies, Andre Esterhuizen.