LONDON: England full-back Freddie Steward, scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, flanker Sam Underhill and winger Ollie Sleightholme will all start against South Africa on Saturday as manager Steve Borthwick looks to end a streak of four successive defeats.

Steward was an England regular before losing his place to George Furbank in the Six Nations, but his aerial abilities, combined with law changes encouraging more contestable kicking, helped persuade Borthwick to bring him back and to leave Furbank out of the named matchday squad on Thursday. .

Van Poortvliet, one of Borthwick’s favorites when he led Leicester to the Premiership title, was also first choice before an ankle injury kept him out of the World Cup and took over from Ben Spencer , Harry Randall again providing bench coverage.

It will be a blow for Spencer, who started the defeats against New Zealand and Australia, his first starts in a six-year career, but after eight international caps he is still winless, having played in seven defeats and a draw.

Sleightholme, who looked lively in scoring two tries off the bench last week, gets his first start in place of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, out with concussions, with Tommy Freeman moving to right wing and Tom Roebuck on the bench.

Underhill, who started nine consecutive Tests before being dropped for November’s opening match against New Zealand, is back on the open flank after Tom Curry was also ruled out after suffering a concussion against the New Zealand.

Having lost twice to New Zealand in July and then at home to the All Blacks and Australia in the last two weeks – having led all four games late on – Borthwick is desperate to get back to the top victory.

CONTESTABLE KICKS

“Fred’s training has been exceptional, his attitude has been brilliant and the team that kicks the most contestably in the world is South Africa,” Borthwick said of the giant Steward.

“Everything shows that they are above everyone in terms of the number of contestable kicks.

“Fred clearly has super strength there, so that has a role to play.

“Similarly, JVP (Jack van Poortvliet) – he’s been great. In the first two weeks of training here, he’s just grown and grown. I see his speed getting back to the best it was . So I’m looking forward to seeing him go on Saturday.”

England face a daunting task against the world champions who, having added the Rugby Championship to their CV, got their European tour off to a flying start with a 32-15 victory over Scotland last Sunday.

Coach Rassie Erasmus made 12 changes from the Murrayfield game, saying he had to rotate his team due to the short turnaround.

The last time England and South Africa met was in the World Cup semi-final just over a year ago, when the Springboks claimed a late 16-15 victory.

“In that semi-final we had some chances that we didn’t take in a very close game,” Borthwick said.

“We think we have developed our game a little bit compared to 2023. We feel like there are more offensive opportunities in us and there is more ball movement in us.

“So we are a different team than we were then and we want to cause them problems.”

The England team will face South Africa on Saturday (3:40 p.m. GMT)

15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps)

14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 13 caps)

13. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 29 caps)

12. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 67 caps)

11. Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 3 caps)

10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 37 caps)

9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)

1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 64 caps) – vice-captain

2. Jamie George (Saracens, 95 caps) – captain

3. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 43 caps)

4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 86 caps) – vice-captain

5. George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)

6. Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 9 caps)

7. Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)

8. Ben Earl (Saracens, 35 caps) – vice-captain

Substitutes:

16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 42 caps)

17. Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 4 caps)

18. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 117 caps)

19. Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 13 caps)

20. Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 19 caps)

21. Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 9 caps)

22. George Ford (Sale Sharks, 98 caps) – vice-captain

23. Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)