An England team bristling with grunt, power, and flair are the real deal and will present the Springboks with a major challenge in a Nations Championship clash in Johannesburg on July 4, SA coach Rassie Erasmus says.
Resurgent England have won 12 Tests on the trot, and their latest victims were a hapless Welsh side who they slaughtered 48-7 at Twickenham in their opening Six Nations clash on Saturday.
Erasmus knows England will be determined to lay down a marker against the world champions at Ellis Park ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
Though the Boks’ upcoming four-game series against New Zealand is grabbing headlines, Erasmus is looking no further than his team’s opening Test of the season against England.
“England are the real thing now,” Erasmus said.
“Tom Curry is a tough player, and Maro Itoje will always disrupt your play, and Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, and Marcus Smith are big threats at the back.
“I just think they’ve got a nice balance. There is grunt and power and flair. They’re impressive.
“England reminds me a bit of club team Northampton.
“I remember Jake White going into their changeroom after they beat the Bulls a few years ago and saying that they were a team that was going to go on to big things, which they did as they beat Leinster to make the Champions Cup final.
“There’s definitely something special happening with England; their record speaks for itself.
“They are on a winning spree, and that is impressive.
“They may lose a few games before they arrive in South Africa, as they have a Six Nations to play before playing us.
“I remember being part of a Bok team going for a record under Nick Mallett in 1998.
“We lost out on the record by losing at Twickenham in the last game of that year.”
Erasmus says an inventive England side could spring a surprise or two at Ellis Park.
“They might find something different,” he said.
“They might go with four forwards and four backs, and then I might look at that and think, ‘That might work.’
“We’re all stealing from each other and learning from each other. None of us has all the answers.”
Erasmus said it would be a massive challenge playing four Tests in four weeks against New Zealand in the Greatest Rivalry series.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead but we will have a squad of about 35 players, and we will have to use the players intelligently,” he said.
“It is going to be a huge challenge, very tough playing four games in four weeks, but we did that on the last end-of-year tour, where each time we played teams that were desperate to beat us.
“Depending on our selection plans, we will also release players to play for the URC franchises in their games against the All Blacks to further widen experience.”
The Nations Championship Test series kicks off in Johannesburg against England and will be followed by encounters against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria (July 11) and Wales at Kings Park in Durban (July 18).
Sellout crowds will watch the three home Tests against the All Blacks at Ellis Park (63,000 capacity), Cape Town Stadium (55,000), and FNB Stadium (94,000).
Springbok Tests in SA in 2026:
Nations Championship:
July 4: Boks vs England — Ellis Park, Johannesburg
July 11: Boks vs Scotland — Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
July 18: Boks vs Wales — Kings Park, Durban
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry:
August 22: Boks vs New Zealand (First Test) — Ellis Park, Johannesburg
August 29: Boks vs New Zealand (Second Test) — DHL Stadium, Cape Town
September 5: Boks vs New Zealand (Third Test) — FNB Stadium.