England v South Africa: Jamie George says hosts have ‘evolved’ since World Cup defeat

Thursday at 07:22 PM

England head coach Borthwick has made four changes from the side beaten by Australia in their last outing, including the reintroduction of full-back Freddie Steward and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet.

George says both players are “frothing” at the prospect of facing South Africa.

“They are ready to take their opportunity because of all the work they have put in off the field,” he added.

“They have trained brilliantly and the nice thing is they are not coming in with one or two caps. They have played at international level and they are frothing at the bit to get involved.

“Whenever that ball goes in the air, the expectation is to catch the ball. Freddie [Steward] retrieves more ball for us than anyone and he is excellent in that area.

“The South African gameplan lends itself to putting the ball in the air a bit more, but there is no better man to have back there.”

England have not won at home since March when they beat Ireland in the Six Nations and George says the hosts need a result to match their performances.

“We always feel pressure to win,” said the 34-year-old.

“We know that the fans want a win and we want to bring that for them. They have been brilliant and we have spoken a lot about this connection with the fans, but I’m aware the performance only goes so far and we need to bring the result.

“I want the Allianz to believe we can win because we believe we can win.”

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