England defence coach Andy Farrell feels his side must show plenty of resolve if they are to beat the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday.
Farrell wants England's to invoke the spirit of Port Elizabeth where they met the Boks' physical onslaught head-on and managed a creditable 14-14 draw in the third Test of the three match series in June.
That result meant that England managed to avoid a 3-0 whitewash, and Farrell expects them to put in a similar showing on their home turf on Saturday.
"We've got to remind the team of Port Elizabeth," he said.
"In that game we took our defensive game to them and that is how it has got to be this weekend.
"There was a fighting spirit in that game. It shone out massively, you could see our intent to not let South Africa do what they do best, which is batter the gain-line door down. We did it well that day.
"The South Africans were pretty annoyed to draw that game.
"They realised we were good that day, we got among them and got stuck in and I'm sure they will pick a team to combat that.
"South Africa have a way of playing, they don't change much and they have some big boys.
"But they will have a few intricacies. You have to expect the unexpected."
Comments
Sasquatch says...
Canterbury need to stop this nonsense with national uniforms (England in purple, Ireland in black, Scotland in that ridiculous white with the blue advertising paint smudged all over it) and just stick to the basics. Adidas uniforms look far better, simple and modern with traditional elements. I mean seriously, who actually approved England in purple?
Posted 12:00 22nd November 2012
APV1 says...
@ heart_of_oak - such delightful images you conjour up.
Aaaah. Halcyon days.
Posted 10:58 22nd November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Port Elizabeth was the conclusion of a winless tour. A whitewash to me. If that is the ambition its poor. And Hartley was the spirit in that game anyhow. Certainly not Robshaws lonesome lacklustre leadership
Posted 15:00 21st November 2012
heart_of_oak says...
APV1, well, that's what these sites are for, n'est-ce pas ? As regards giving away penalties and yellow cards, I've been looking at the Toulon rugby club web site to try and get some details and there aren't that many infringements by Armitage. Lovely bunch of blokes by the way, those Toulonnais geezers.
Anyway, in his saison derniere with London Irish, he got 2 yellow cards in 13 appearances but there's no mention of anything in his Toulon career so far. So is he worse than say Matt Stevens was or James Haskell for giving away penalties - or Chris "Handbags" Ashton ?
Ah well, it's water under the bridge really as he hasn't been selected and won't be because of our rule yawn yawn.
Now then, as to the important matter of Babs Carland's knickers, twas the lovely lady herself (you know who I mean, don't you ?) who told me. Apparently, she who must be obeyed, Babs and Brian Sewell were in the Old Vic, fighting with Phil Mitchell on the cast of Eastenders (known as Rearenders in the heart_of_oak household) when Babs suddenly jumped up and performed a raunchy striptease.
This, oh best beloved, is how I know the colour of Barbara Cartland's knickers. So there you have it. God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.
Posted 14:56 21st November 2012
Warrior7 says...
JJ's defense is poor, watch the third try for Worcester off the back of the scrum. JJ gets shunted backwards about 8 metres before failing to do anything about holding up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euxMXyikmz8
Posted 11:37 21st November 2012
APV1 says...
"... invoke the spirit of Port Elizabeth..."
Really?! What a load of tosh. He must have visited Soundbites R Us for that one.
@ Dafydd29 - we wore pink for our pretty wingers, as it brought out their eyes. And we've dropped the overweight Kiwi.
@ heart_of_oak - can't say I agree with your Delon selection. Mr Angry's form and Goode's vision are doing well. Why bring in a penalty-machine like him? I know his form is (allegedly) good in France, but I want a season without a yellow before he gets back into the EPS.
And I dare not ask how you know what colour Barbara Cartland's knickers are..!
Posted 11:24 21st November 2012
heart_of_oak says...
The colours England wore for the Australia game were indeed revolting. What was the inspiration for this choice of colour - Barbara Cartland's knickers ?
Now as to the SA match, I'm not going to do a Guscott and try to predict the outcome. But like Jmanngod, I hope we will see some good back play. JJ on the wing seems an odd move to me but then I can't see him getting the ball much. In the scrum, I think we'll be stronger for having Haskell and Morgan though Haskell is on the bench. I know Haskell isn't everyone's cup of tea but he tends to perform well against the Boks. Which, in my view, demonstrates the need to pick different players depending on the opposition. The Boks are usually more physical than other teams so players who can stand up to and even counter that are better suited to this game. So I think it's right not to play Sharples who I believe can be a great wing for us, but against specific types of opposition. However, is JJ the right man to play on the wing against the Boks ?
I personally would have picked Delon Armitage even though I know we have this wonderful rule that we can't pick players playing in France.... and we've all just about debated this until we're fed up with it. But Armitage is fast, has good defence, can cover full back and can be aggressive - just what we need to face the Boks. For me, JJ is a bit on the delicate side. I hope I'm proved wrong.
The scrum is going to face it's toughest physical battle yet but many of them will know that from their tour to SA not so long ago. To pick as many of the players who finished that last drawn test as are available is not a bad move in my opinion. We are really missing Courtney Lawes and Dylan Hartley at the moment. Having Hartley in the scrum provides extra experience and Lawes is quick and physical around the pitch. We need him back.
Posted 08:16 21st November 2012
ABlack says...
England will lift their performance against SA. I wouldnt write Eng off as the SA team is rebuilding a bit as well and have some inexperienced players. So all things being equal and Eng having home advantage it will be a close game.
Posted 02:22 21st November 2012
Dafydd29 says...
have just watched a replay of England v Australia. Two questions (amongst others)
:- why play in Pink?
:- why use an overweight, underperforming, Kiwi at #8 - is England that desperate?
Posted 20:54 20th November 2012
lawynd says...
@jmanngod - I sincerely hope not. England are nowhere at all near where we/they want to be, but there won't be any improvement if they don't at least try and play some rugby...might as well accept 2015 is a bust already if that happens.
Posted 20:25 20th November 2012
Isograford says...
Please England, wear White, for Rugby's sake.
Posted 19:16 20th November 2012
jmanngod says...
if the bok wins and it seems pretty evenly matched) will England revert to kick-chase-hope for NZ?
Posted 18:08 20th November 2012