Bombs away: Springboks bench hungry for England Twickers scalp

SOUTH Africa’s Bomb Squad will be looking to flip the script on England at Twickenham tomorrow at 7.30pm.

Historically, matches at this ground between the two nations have always gone down to the wire, with England beating the Springboks 12-11 in 2018 and then again by one point (27-26) last year.

The Boks, meanwhile, have not beaten the Roses at Twickers since 2014 and would like nothing more than to get one over their hosts to finish their year-end tour with a 50-percent winning record.

Dead

With defeats to Ireland and France preceding a win against Italy, the Boks will know that they will need a full 80-minute display against an England team that came back from the dead to draw 25-25 with New Zealand last week.

And with the likes of Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Kwagga Smith on their bench, the Boks’ forwards will look to make a big explosion again.

Known as the Bomb Squad, Marx says they will leave nothing on the field in search of the win.

He explains: “I don’t think any team likes losing, you obviously go onto the field and you only wanna give your best and hopefully your best is good enough to win the game.

“Both teams want to win this game and obviously end the year on a positive note.”

Prop Thomas du Toit joins the Bomb Squad from the SA ‘A’ squad and adds: “England have a big, strong pack and it will be a great matchup between the two packs.

“The team who gets the upper hand up front [will come out tops on the day].”

Springboks (15-1): Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Damian Willemse, Faf de Klerk, Evan Roos, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (captain), Marvin Orie, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Bench (16-23): Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Thomas du Toit, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith, Jaden Hendrikse, Manie Libbok, Canan Moodie.