England already prepared to nullify Springboks’ greatest threat
England were back at their Pennyhill Park training base this week after their camp in Jersey last week, and were doing some pretty interesting training drills this week.
The strangest of all was their high ball practice, where England’s back three players had the tricky task of plucking kicks out of the air all while they were having pool noodles waved in their face and were being hit by what can only be described as enormous lollipops.
Having aerial superiority puts most teams in a good position in any match, but against the Springboks it becomes far more important. Winning that battle is key to having any chance of beating the world champions. Lose it and you face a lack of possession at best, and a string of scrums against their beastly pack at worse after spilling ball after ball. With England playing the Springboks in the final match of the year for both sides, they have a few more weeks to hone those aerial skills. For now, it is Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday.
Take a look at them training:
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ENGLAND XV
15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps)
14. Jack Nowell (VC) (Exeter Chiefs, 42 caps)
13. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 46 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (C) (Saracens, 97 caps)
11. Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
10. Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 13 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 117 caps)
1. Ellis Genge (VC) (Bristol Bears, 39 caps)
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 37 caps)
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 52 caps)
4. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
5. Jonny Hill (Sale Sharks, 15 caps)
6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 58 caps)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 41 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 64 caps)
FINISHERS
16. Jack Singleton (Gloucester Rugby, 3 caps)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 70 caps)
18. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers, 5 caps)
19. David Ribbans (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
20. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, 14 caps)
21. Jack Willis (unattached, 4 caps)
22. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 3 caps)
23. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 48 caps)
