South Africa’s Siya Kolisi Returns to Starting XV for England Clash

Siya Kolisi previously played as a substitute for South Africa during their victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. The Autumn Nations Series match between England and South Africa is scheduled for Saturday, 16 November, at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, with a kick-off time of 17:40 GMT. Coverage will be available via live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, as well as live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. The reigning world champions, South Africa, have announced 12 alterations to their starting lineup for Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series encounter against England at Allianz Stadium. Captain Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit, a former world player of the year, are back in the back row. Additionally, winger Cheslin Kolbe has been included in the team. Nevertheless, despite having seven forwards among the substitutes in their 32-15 victory over Scotland, head coach Rassie Erasmus has chosen a standard five forwards and three backs configuration for his bench against England. Meanwhile, England has implemented four changes to the squad that was defeated by Australia. In their previous encounter, the 2023 World Cup semi-final, South Africa secured a 16-15 win over England, thanks to a late penalty from Handre Pollard. The Springboks’ roster features 15 individuals who played against Steve Borthwick’s team in Paris, with Leicester Tigers fly-half Pollard listed among the reserves. “England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses,” Erasmus stated. He added, “Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.” England has experienced defeats in their last four matches, including close losses in their initial two autumn Tests against New Zealand and Australia. Erasmus, however, emphasized that previous outcomes are irrelevant when the two teams reignite their competition in London. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Erasmus further commented: “If you have the right players and the right management, it can galvanise the team, especially if you have two close games like that.” He continued, “Our reality is we are playing England, who we seldom beat here. We are expecting a team that will be really tight and will play for their coaching staff. They believe fully they can beat us.” Erasmus also remarked: “England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we know the size of the challenge.” He concluded, “We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.” The confirmed lineups for the match are as follows: England: Steward; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-South, Underhill, Earl. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Cole, Isiekwe, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Roebuck. South Africa: Fassi; Kolbe, Kriel, De Allende, Arendse; Libbok, Williams; Nche, Mbonambi, Loux, Etzebeth, Snyman, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Wiese. Replacements: Marx, Steenekamp, Koch, Louw, Smith, Reinach, Pollard, Am. The officiating team includes: Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland) Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby (Ireland) Assistant Referee 2: Eoghan Cross (Ireland) TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)