Jamie George says the 2023 World Cup semi-final defeat to South Africa has equipped England with a blueprint to beat the Springboks.
England face a must-win encounter against back-to-back world champions South Africa at Allianz Stadium on Saturday after last-gasp losses to New Zealand and Australia left their autumn campaign on the ropes.
It’s the first time England have met South Africa since their 16-15 semi-final defeat at the hands of the Springboks in Paris saw them agonisingly miss out on successive World Cup finals.
“Whenever you play international rugby, you’ve got to look at the performance as a whole,” England captain George told Sky Sports.
“What we saw from that performance was a blueprint on how to beat South Africa.
“We’re a different team to what we were then, we’ve improved in so many different areas, but we’ve also been hammering home the points that put us in a good position to win that game.
“We didn’t win it, it was another close game, but we’ve got to make sure we do the right things if we get into that position again.”
The stakes are high on England’s return to Twickenham this weekend, with Steve Borthwick’s side in the midst of a four-Test losing run that the back-to-back world champions are looking to extend.
England have made an unfortunate habit of swapping late leads for defeats throughout 2024, with last weekend’s 42-37 setback against Australia proving the catalyst for in-depth reflection between George and his team-mates.
“We were obviously very disappointed coming off the game last weekend, mostly off the back of our performance,” he said. “Regardless of whether Australia scored at the end, it would have been a tough week for us on reflection.
“We’ve had open and honest conversations. We needed to be honest, we needed to be clear on why we weren’t as good as we needed. Sometimes there are tough conversations that need to happen, and we’ve done those.
“What I’ve loved is that we’ve got clarity on what we’re like when we’re at our best. We’ve shown glimpses of that in parts against New Zealand and Australia. We know we’re going to have to be right at it to win on Saturday.
“It’s been important for us to get fixes to where we went wrong ahead of the biggest challenge of South Africa at home. We’re clear it’s going to be a big challenge for us, but it’s a challenge we are very ready for.”
Erasmus: Borthwick ‘a bit under pressure’
Rassie Erasmus insists Steve Borthwick is a coach under pressure as South Africa look to inflict further misery on England.
England are playing to avoid a fifth successive defeat when they host the all-conquering back-to-back world champions with Borthwick’s win rate for his 26 games in charge now at 50 per cent.
The Rugby Football Union insists Borthwick has its “100 per cent full support” despite the late losses to New Zealand and Australia.
England took South Africa to the wire in last year’s World Cup semi-final and Erasmus suspects Borthwick will fall back on tactics that have been effective in the past.
“When you lose two games, even if it’s by a point or last-minute try, the pressure does start to build,” the Springboks coach said. “I’ve been there and certainly know how quickly that can get to you. Now Steve is a bit under pressure.
“Then one normally falls back on to what works for you. They’ve been successful like that in the past, so we very much expect them to try and squeeze us with the kicking game.”
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