England and South Africa bring their Test seasons to a close at Twickenham on and according to the bookmakers England are favourites to win the game.
ENGLAND
Heading into the last 10 minutes against New Zealand at Twickenham last week England trailed 25-6, but somehow they managed to score three tries in the final 10 minutes to force a 25-25 draw. That would have taken some of the pressure off Head Coach, Eddie Jones, as social media was abuzz with England fans calling for his head.
The week before England had hammered Japan by 39 points, but they were stunned 30-29 by Argentina in their opening match of the Autumn Nations Series campaign
SOUTH AFRICA
The Springboks lost their opener to Ireland by 3 points in Dublin and they were then beaten by 4 points against the French. Both games finished very close to where the bookmakers had handicapped the game.
Last week South Africa turned on an impressive display powering clear of Italy to win 63-21, a game where the Boks had started 18 point favourites.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
These sides met in November of last year with England winning 27-26 and prior to that they had met in the World Cup Final with South Africa winning that match 32-12. England have won the last 3 meetings between the sides at Twickenham and South Africa’s last victory was back in 2014 when they won 31-28.
TEAM NEWS
England
15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Jonny May, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Jack Nowell
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Marvin Orie, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Franco Mostert, 8 Evan Roos.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Canan Moodie.
Place an 80 Min Win Double on the Wales vs Australia and England v South Africa rugby matches, and if your bet loses and your team receives a red card in either game, we will refund your stake in Free Bet vouchers.
BETTING – Click here to bet
England 5/8
Draw 20/1
South Africa 15/10
Handicap: England -2.5
Suggested Bet: Tri Bet, any other score at PRICE TO FOLLOW*
Four out of the last five head-to-heads at Twickenham have seen the winning margin fall within this range and I can’t see anything but another very tight game on Saturday.
For this bet to land we need either team to win the game by 6 points or less or the match to be drawn.
*This bet is not available at the time of posting and this preview will be updated with the price on Friday
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
