Ben Earl: England ‘focusing on ourselves’, not South Africa players’ reputations

Ben Earl insists England are focused on winning with style rather than on South Africa’s reputations when the rivals clash at Ellis Park on Saturday.

England are looking to end a run of four Test defeats that registered their worst ever Six Nations performance when they take on Siya Kolisi’s back-to-back world champions.

A courageous performance against France in the climax to the tournament has provided a blueprint for how next month’s Nations Championship matches should be approached, but Earl has vowed they will not lose sight of the only objective that really matters.

The Saracens number eight said: “We want to play a game of rugby that not only entertains, but wins. Test match rugby is almost a different sport. The currency of Test match rugby is wins.

“I feel like we’re well equipped to play whatever the game presents itself. We don’t know what tactics South Africa are going to bring, but we know the kind of game we would like to play.

Fixture

Nations Championship

South Africa

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4 Jul 26

England

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“We’ve been focusing on ourselves a fair bit in terms of how we want to play and the clarity around how we want our rugby to look.

“South Africa are unique because they’re number one in the world, they’re the best team, they’re double World Cup winners.

“They’re littered with world-leading talent. From one to 23, you could argue that a fair chunk of them would be in the conversation around the world’s best.

“But the moment you think too much about that stuff, you get bogged down and you can’t focus on your own game, so we’ve been thinking a lot about ourselves.

“These opportunities don’t come around very often so I for one can’t wait to play and to challenge ourselves against the best team in the world.”

Head coach Steve Borthwick names his team on Thursday, with Jamie George set to lead England after Maro Itoje was rested for the July tour.