Springboks team to play England: Autumn Nations Series

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Rassie Erasmus has made significant adjustments to the Springboks team to play England for their highly anticipated Autumn Nations Series showdown with Steve Borthwick’s men.

RUCK's Autumn Nations Series coverage is proudly powered by the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, dedicated to creating a world free of MND. Join the the fight against MND here.

Only three players—Eben Etzebeth (lock), Ox Nche (prop), and Bongi Mbonambi (hooker)—remain from Sunday's Test match, as the lineup sees a completely revamped backline and eight forward changes.

The half-back pairing features Manie Libbok and Grant Williams, with Erasmus sticking to a strategic five/three bench split, a tactic he has favored against England in recent encounters.

South Africa XV:

  1. Ox Nche
  2. Bongi Mbonambi
  3. Wilco Louw
  4. Eben Etzebeth
  5. RG Snyman
  6. Siya Kolisi (captain)
  7. Pieter-Steph du Toit
  8. Jasper Wiese
  9. Grant Williams
  10. Manie Libbok
  11. Kurt-Lee Arendse
  12. Damian de Allende
  13. Jesse Kriel
  14. Cheslin Kolbe
  15. Aphelele Fassi

Replacements:
16. Malcolm Marx
17. Gerhard Steenekamp
18. Vincent Koch
19. Elrigh Louw
20. Kwagga Smith
21. Cobus Reinach
22. Handré Pollard
23. Lukhanyo Am

Who is the England vs South Africa referee?

Born and raised in Cardiff, Andrew Brace has an unusual background for an Irish referee. He spent much of his early life moving between Wales and Ireland, and his rugby roots are tied to the Irish Rugby Union, where he started as a community officer for Munster before making the jump into officiating. Despite his Welsh upbringing, Brace can still referee Wales matches because he represents Ireland.

Belgium International

Remarkably, Brace has also played international rugby for Belgium. Thanks to his father's Belgian heritage, he represented the nation and even won the 2012 Emirates Cup of Nations. His playing career, which included time with Belgium's sevens team, was eventually cut short by injuries.

The Refereeing Rise

His officiating journey began with his PRO14 debut in 2015. By the next year, he was refereeing Six Nations Under-20s matches. In 2017, he made his Test debut, whistling a World Cup qualifier between Canada and the United States. Since then, he has served as a touch judge in major tournaments, including the Six Nations and the World Cup, before taking charge of Six Nations matches in 2021.

That campaign saw him oversee Scotland's historic win over England at Twickenham. Brace also appeared at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, where he refereed England's hard-fought win over Samoa, Italy's clash with Namibia, and Australia's upset against Fiji.

Controversy at Twickenham

Brace's career has not been without controversy. In the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup final at Twickenham, he oversaw a contentious England win over France. Eddie Jones' side claimed a 22-19 victory, with Owen Farrell kicking the decisive penalty in extra time.

However, Brace and his officiating team faced backlash for missing a knock-on in the build-up to Luke Cowan-Dickie's try that pushed the game into extra time. French head coach Fabien Galthié criticized the refereeing, saying, “The game was won by decisions not actions,” and added, “losing because of decisions is hard.”

Former Wales coach Shaun Edwards also voiced his frustration, telling BT Sport: “We'd like to have a bit of an explanation about the knock-on in the last tackle which led to a try. There was a knock-on in the lead-up. The referees can't see everything and neither can the touch judges but we were a little bit disappointed… the TMO could have interfered in that decision.”

Vile Abuse

Brace later revealed the extent of the abuse he faced, telling RugbyPass: “As well as the death threats, I had people telling me never to come back to France again. I had more than a thousand messages on Instagram and someone made a parody profile of me on Twitter just to abuse me.

The first tweet they'd have seen was about my dad's obituary. My dad went on a road trip where he'd traced his father's footsteps from World War II. That was my pinned tweet at the top of my page and they jumped on it saying I was a s*** referee, that I'd ruined the game.”

Editors picks:

Referee’s this weekend:

15-17 Nov 2024

Ireland v Argentina
Referee: Paul Williams (NZ)
ARs: Craig Evans (Wal) & Angus Mabey (NZ)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)

England vs South Africa referee
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ire)
ARs: Chris Busby (Ire) & Eoghan Cross (Ire)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)

France v New Zealand
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)
ARs: Matt Carley (Eng) & Andrea Piardi (Ita)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)

Japan v Uruguay
Referee: Christophe Ridley (Eng)
ARs: Luc Ramos (Fra) & Adam Leal (Eng)
TMO: Tual Trainini (Fra)

USA v Tonga
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)
ARs: Luc Ramos (Fra) & Adam Leal (Eng)
TMO: Tual Trainini (Fra)

Scotland v Portugal
Referee: Takehito Namekawa (Jpn)
ARs: Luke Pearce (Eng) & Antony Woodthorpe (Eng)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ire)

Spain v Fiji
Referee: Morne Ferreira (SA)
ARs: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SA) & Federico Vedovelli (Ita)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (SA)

Romania v Canada
Referee: Sam Grove White (Sco)
ARs: Saba Abulashvili (Geo) & TBC
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Sco)

Netherlands v Chile
Referee: Jeremy Rosier (Fra)
ARs: Evan Urruzmendi (Fra) & Kevin Bralley (Fra)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)

Hong Kong China v Brazil
Referee: Katsuki Furuse (Jpn)
ARs: Reuben Keane (Aus) & Morgan White (HKC)

England A v Australia A
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ire)
ARs: TBC & Joe James (Eng)
TMO: TBC

Wales v Australia
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
ARs: Karl Dickson (Eng) & Angus Mabey (NZR)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)

Italy v Georgia
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
ARs: Pierre Brousset (Fra) & Damian Schneider (Arg)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZR)

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