Coach Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks regard England as one of their toughest opponents.
The teams meet at Ellis Park on Saturday in their opening match of the new Nations Championship.
The Boks go into the Test having won the last three meetings between the sides – at Twickenham in 2022 and 2024, either side of a dramatic 16-15 victory in the 2023 World Cup semi-final in Paris.
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England endured their worst-ever Six Nations campaign earlier this year, suffering a first-ever loss to Italy, but Erasmus insists they won’t be underestimated by the Boks.
“It’s always a great rivalry,” he said at Monday’s team announcement.
“I remember when I was playing we were chasing 17 wins in a row under Nick Mallett, and England took that [attempted world record] away from us.
“I also played in the [1999] World Cup [quarter-final] where Jannie de Beer kicked five drop goals and we went through to the next stage.
“They’ve taken glory away from us at times, and then obviously we’ve had World Cup finals against them [2007 and 2019], and some pretty important games, some were one-pointers.
“So it’s always tough.”
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“They’re one of the countries, like us, with a huge player base,” Erasmus added. “I think France has the biggest player base, England the second biggest and South Africa the third.
“Their depth is outstanding, the Premiership is a very strong competition and some of our players play there.
“So for us it’s an honour playing against them. We always see England as one of our toughest Test matches.
“For some of the younger guys in the squad, like Cameron Hanekom and a few others, this is their first really big Test.”
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Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The post Rassie: England always a great rivalry appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Coach Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks regard England as one of their toughest opponents.
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