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Tom Hamilton, Senior Writer
The Springboks will turn to defence coach Jerry Flannery for any inside knowledge on Marcus Smith ahead of Saturday’s clash against England, and the world champions are wary of getting drawn into any revenge narrative after beating Steve Borthwick’s side in last year’s World Cup semifinal.
South Africa travel to Twickenham on Saturday looking to build on their 32-15 win over Scotland last Sunday. For England, they are looking to save their Autumn Nations Series after losing at the death to both New Zealand and Australia.
While England suffered two narrow defeats in the closing stages, Smith has put in a pair of eye-catching performances at fly-half. Flannery knows Smith well, having coached him at Harlequins from 2020-2024 as lineout and defence coach. Tony Brown, the Springboks attack coach, said Flannery’s mission this week is to work out how to nullify Smith’s box of tricks on Saturday.
“He’s obviously a class player,” Brown said of Smith.
“Given time and space there’s not too many better at making the most of little opportunities for all the players around him. Jerry has had a lot of time with Marcus Smith, and knows him well. He’ll be under a little bit of pressure to make sure Marcus doesn’t get those opportunities this week.”
Brown is also wary of Smith’s pinpoint kick-passes, saying he’s “outstanding” in that area of the game.
It will be England’s first meeting with South Africa since last year’s World Cup semifinal, a match the Boks won 16-15. Brown said that match will have little baring on this weekend’s clash.
“It’s a year ago; I don’t think it’s overly relevant other than that we know the game is going to be physical and tight.”
Cobus Reinach, 34, started that World Cup semifinal. It was a controversial match, but Reinach said the Boks cannot be distracted by any talk of revenge, or it being a grudge match.
“If we get into that it is going to take us away from the actual Test match,” Reinach said. “We need to focus on what is coming on Saturday and how to put our plan on the field. If we lose sight of what we want to do we might be embarrassed or not happy with our performance.”
For the Boks, one of their big challenges this week has been managing their six-day turnaround. They played Scotland on Sunday, and face England on Saturday. Brown said they have analysed the way the All Blacks managed such a short turnaround after they beat England on Nov. 2 and then triumphed in Dublin against Ireland on Nov. 8.
“It’s always tough on a short turnaround — you lose a training day, the players lose a recovery day, so getting that balance right is important,” Brown said.
“All the southern hemisphere teams are having to deal with that on this tour. We’ve learnt from what the All Blacks have done going from England to Ireland. We’re learning along the way to make sure we’re mentally and physically at our best on Saturday.”
And the Springboks team doctor Jerome Mampane is adamant the players will be fully fit for Saturday’s match, and said Siya Kolisi is showing no ill-effects after he sustained a bruised eye against Scotland.
“We did quite well actually, we came out of the [Scotland match] unscathed,” Mampane said.
“The theme we were looking at was a lot of freshness. Freshness of players and freshness around the 7-1 split [on the bench]. We were targeting good freshness and I think maybe from my perspective that’s what the coaches planned. That’s what we planned together as a group and I think we achieved that.
“I wouldn’t say training is a little lighter, there are still targets that need to be met and the coaches are still as focused as ever. When you look at it medically and scientifically, you ant good fresh players. You want to go into each contest in the best shape you can be in. If you look at the year we’ve had with the number of injuries, it’s great. We’ve got a lot of returning players so we’re in a good space.
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