It will be the Springboks and England’s first encounter in more than a year with their last clash being the semi-final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Paris. On the night at Stade de France, South Africa, beat the ever-dangerous England 16-15 to book a final against the All Blacks.

England are wounded and desperate and are facing a fifth-straight defeat following three in a row against the All Blacks and last week’s loss to the Wallabies.

The Springboks will seek to continue their fine form in 2024 which has also brought them a first Rugby Championship title in five years.

Kolisi who reclaims the captaincy said England can by no means be underestimated and they will be very dangerous on their home ground.

“We’ve been there too, and we know what it’s like,” said Kolisi.

‘We’re not sitting here, we know what England is going to bring’

“That’s when we’ve been able to turn up and I think we did it when we lost in Australia in two games in a row when we had to play the All Blacks. We lost against Australia and then lost against the All Blacks and we played in the second game.

“Those things sometimes can pull the team together. We’re not sitting here, we know what England is going to bring, and they’re at home.

“Playing at Twickenham is very special for opposition teams and for them as well. It’s huge and the crowd will get behind them.

Springboks vs England in the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Paris. Photo: SA Rugby

“Our record here is one that we also want to rectify. We’ve got a lot to play for, and we’ve got a lot to fix from last week. We won last week, but you can see the players weren’t happy with the way we played.

“Playing to our standards is the most important. Of course, we want to win, but we’ve got so much that we want to rectify and this is a very important game for us as a group.”

Saturday’s Test between England and the Springboks at Twickenham kicks off at 19:40.

England – 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Ellis Genge.

Replacements – 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Tom Roebuck

Springboks – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 12 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements –16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Lukhanyo Am

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek dg