England face a difficult test in their Rugby World Cup semi-final as they take on the reigning world champions South Africa at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Saturday. Steve Borthwick’s men have been slowly building their way through the tournament backed by a solid kick-and-chase game that has seen them defeat all five of their opponents so far.
There most recent victory, over Fiji in the quarter-final, was England’s most confident performance but they have improvements to make if they are going to get past the Springboks in what will surely be a blockbuster encounter. Borthwick is naming his team today with Owen Farrell expected to start at fly-half again over George Ford and Freddie Steward set to slot back in at full-back in place of Marcus Smith.
South Africa, meanwhile, are on cloud nine following their hard-fought quarter-final against tournament hosts France. They snuck through to the final four with a 29-28 win and are now the favourites to lift the trophy in successive competitions. Will England be able to stop them?
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