England head coach Steve Borthwick has made three changes to his starting XV for the World Cup semi-final against South Africa this weekend. Marcus Smith drops out of the squad altogether after being left battered and bruised in England’s quarter-final win over Fiji.
Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum also drop down to the bench with Joe Marler and George Martin replacing them respectively. Smith was already a doubt for the semi-final after suffering a nasty head-on-head collision in England’s quarter-final win over Fiji last weekend.
He passed the head injury assessment, meaning he was able to return to the pitch 14 minutes later and finished the rest of the match. But Smith’s head was heavily bandaged and he also sported some visible facial injuries from the clash.
Freddie Steward had been England’s first-choice full-back for 28 consecutive matches before he was rotated out of the side for their 71-0 thrashing of Chile. He was then a surprise omission from the squad altogether for the quarter-final against Fiji.
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“After an excellent few days preparation in Paris, we look forward to the challenge of playing the World Champions and number one ranked team in the world,” said Borthwick. “Through this tournament the team has progressed, with the players repeatedly finding a way to win, sometimes in challenging circumstances. We will once again need to be at our very best this weekend as we face an excellent team in South Africa.
“There is no doubt the players will truly relish the challenge of knockout rugby under the lights in Paris. These players will, as they have done in every game of this tournament, give absolutely everything in the semi-final to get the result we want. I also know that our supporters will once again be there in their thousands, playing their part in backing the team with a full voice. To all those who have travelled and to all those lending their support and encouragement from home, I say ‘thank you’.”
Meanwhile, the Springboks named an unchanged side for the semi-final against England. South Africa overcame hosts France in a tough 29-28 contest last weekend but avoided any serious injury concerns.
Jacques Nienaber was buoyant as he confirmed his starting XV on Thursday morning. “We’ve been building a quality Rugby World Cup squad for the last few years so that we could be in this position going into the knockout matches,” Nienaber said.
“We have a squad of 33 players, all of whom are very closely matched in terms of their skill and quality of play which made it tempting to make changes this week and it was tough to select this group both last week and this week. But we feel it’s now time to go with the players in the squad who we believe are in their best form.”
