England team: Five takeaways as ‘custom-made’ backline shows Lee Blackett attack ‘allowed to bed in’ while Henry Pollock temporarily shielded from ‘date with destiny’
Our five key takeaways following confirmation of England's 23-man squad to take on the Springboks
Following the announcement of England’s 23-man team to play the Springboks, here are our five key takeaways from Steve Borthwick’s selection.
Building on foundations
England have made no secret that they want to build on the performance – not the result – from their Six Nations finale against France, and this backline selection proves just that. It’s a sign that they are letting this Lee Blackett attack bed in.
This selection is custom-made to support Blackett’s intent ball-in-hand.
A free-roaming, ball-playing full-back in George Furbank, a 12 who can step in at first receiver in Seb Atkinson, a fly-half that likes to sit just a little bit deeper and play directly into space while deploying the backs slightly wider in Fin Smith, a 13 who gives proper strike back against the grain in Tommy Freeman and importantly, two wingers who can mix it in tight and burn on the outside in Cadan Murley and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Jack van Poortvliet was potentially an eyebrow-raiser, but he does fit the mould of a scrum-half within this system.
England’s new system, designed by Blackett, has so far delivered the goods. It might not have got England over the line against France, but it saw them score 46 points in one Test alone compared to the tally of 59 across the previous three, against a side that until round four had only conceded 80 in the previous four rounds too.
This is undoubtedly the biggest test of its long-term credentials, though, against the Springboks’ hyper-aggressive blitz led by Felix Jones, but the selection of this backline shows Borthwick is willing to back it fully.
If it comes off, it will set the tone for England moving forward.
No Pollock, no party
A lot of the chat in the build-up to this Test has centred on the battle between what seems like the whole of South Africa and Henry Pollock, but Borthwick has decided to hold back his date with destiny a touch and put him on the bench.
You do get it, from both a rugby perspective and a personal one. From the rugby side, Pollock has done an excellent job in that sort of impact role for England across his Test outings, particularly back in the Autumn Nations Series. He is also still very much in the early days of his Test career, even if he is already a British and Irish Lion, with only 10 caps to his name at the time of writing. Then you mix in the quality across England’s back-row, like seasoned Test men Ben Earl and Tom Curry, and you can see why.
But it is also a massive call. Pollock is in red-hot form heading into the Nations Championship, following a Player of the Match display in Northampton’s PREM Rugby final win over Exeter Chiefs and arguably a better display in their semi-final win over Leicester Tigers. Yes, club rugby is not the same beast as Test rugby, nowhere near, but that form has to account for something.
It’s also often, probably undeservedly so, bandied around that Pollock is a ‘flashy’ player that can’t do the nuts and bolts, but his efforts in those two games should silence that chatter.
Pollock will inevitably have to start Tests like this, though, so this could have been a great chance to drop him in and just let him go at it.
Freeman experiment continues
There might be another name dominating talk in the England midfield picture right now, but Freeman’s selection at 13 suggests that experiment is not ending any time soon.
Yes, England have centres already that could play here, and yes Freeman can also play on the wing, but him playing 13 does make a lot of sense.
Freeman just wants to get as many touches of the ball as he can, and moving into 13 does exactly that. It also gives England a point of difference. It’s a style of outside centre that not a lot of Test teams use.
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The Northampton back is always at his best when he’s coming in off his wing and allowed to look for work. That instinctively pulls him closer to the 13 channels by default, but just shifting him in one just means he will get more service in that slot.
From there, this is where he can use his power and pace in a slightly different way to what he would on the wing, usually cutting back in hard against the grain and hitting the ball as it’s in the air, almost like a rugby league centre.
Around that, his time on the wing just means he sees slightly different spaces than a traditional centre, be it one he can cut back in on or even skip out to, and that also seems to suit what F. Smith wants to do and play his backline that little bit wider to get them into space.
There are still things for him to work on in this position, of course, and he will get better with each Test; but for now, it seems it’s very much his shirt to lose.
Scrum, scrum baby
Boy oh boy oh boy. The scrum this weekend is going to be insane.
The Springboks continue to be the measuring stick for scrums across the Test game right now, and their selection of Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit shows they again mean business in that area, but this England unit are going to give it all they’ve got too.
Led by scrum coach Tom Harrison, England have really honed in on the scrum and turned it into a proper weapon. In the Six Nations, it was arguably their only bright spark.
This weekend’s battle will also see two attack-minded scrums go head-to-head, but two scrums who do it very differently. The Boks like to get a nudge on from the get-go, almost throwing their opposition off with the speed and intensity that they come through, and look to separate the hooker from their two props by driving right in between the binds. England, on the other hand, are a touch more patient, often holding their shape and then pouncing when a chance presents itself.
That contrast in scrums will be a really fun, interesting watch.
Pom Squad back?
England have adopted the 6:2 split for a good while now, but this selection suggests they are looking for that sort of Pom Squad tactic they had during the 2025 Autumn Nations Series. Pollock and Guy Pepper are both quietly impressive ball carriers across the park, and both have the ability to properly shift if they’re in space as well. They are also both outstanding defenders too.
Luke Cowan-Dickie, Beno Obano and Asher Opoku-Fordjour, while untested as a unit, are also super-aggressive scrummagers individually and will only look to do that again when they enter the pitch on Saturday. Charlie Ewels is a proper nuts and bolts lock too, and will add a layer of calmness to proceedings.
It seems Borthwick is looking for a big impact off his bench, and could very easily be looking for the Pom Squad once again.
