"You're in for a War" – Jamie George: England captain rallies his troops for 'brutal' Springboks scrum battle
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England take on South Africa tomorrow evening at the Allianz Stadium, with the battle lines drawn for a scrummaging war between the two sides. There is no denying the Springboks are comfortably amongst the world’s best sides at the 16 man set-piece, yet England been working tirelessly on their own scrummaging strength, to match the men in gold and green this weekend.
Steve Borthwick’s side enter this match as underdogs against the back-to-back World Champions, as England have since dropped down to seventh in the World Rugby rankings. George expressed how side can often elevate their performances when they enter a match with the odds stacked against them, with the 2024 Six Nations win over Ireland presenting a solid example from recent memory.
“Historically, we’ve been a team that reacts very well off the back of a poor performance. And that’s what Saturday was, if we’re completely honest.” George said in a recent England press conference at their training camp in Bagshot. “What’s important though is not just relying on history. It’s being clear about why we bounce back well and what is it about, probably, going into games as underdogs that brings the best out of us.”
“Whenever you step on field for England in a Test match, you know you are in for a war, you know you are in for a battle, you know it is going to be brutal at times, but the sort of team we want to be, the expectation we have, is that we run and we run hard. The more we can do that, we back ourselves to be a fit team and I think we are putting good things in place.
“The attack, we play with tempo, play fast but we take our break when it is there and if they have the ball we make sure we put ourselves in position to put teams under a huge amount of pressure with our line speed and physicality.”
Last weekend saw the England pack rise up and at times dominate the Wallabies, with Ellis Genge in particular having a starring role. The Baby Rhino took on 145kg behemoth Taniela Tupou and won two scrum penalties against the titanic tight-head. England skipper George backs his side to rise to the occasion once again at scrum time, as the hooker described the intense atmosphere of packing down against the South African front row.
"It’s quite hard to put into words. It’s such a confrontational and physically draining situation. The scrum as a whole, regardless of who you're playing against, the pressure in there is high. But my job is to make sure that this team never takes a backward step. I’ve been proud of our work so far and I want to make sure we walk off the field on Saturday, proud of our work again.
"It is a big part of our game plan and a big part of what we have focussed on this week, scrum, line-out maul, because it is a big area of where they try to gain advantage, a big part of their game plan. We like to unpick what we think teams are going to do and how they like to get into the game.
“It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realise they scrum for penalties, then kick, then maul and they are a big team, who are physical in that respect. So we have put a lot of emphasis on that. We have been making good movements slowly over the last couple of weeks, have definitely developed over the summer and are up for the challenge."
The scrum was at the forefront of the last meeting between South Africa and England, as the sides met in the semi-finals of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. England’s capitulated scrum proved to be pivotal, as replacement prop Genge buckled under Vincent Koch’s unrelenting pressure, with the Bristol Bears man gave away a scrum penalty.
The subsequent penalty was dutifully slotted by Handre Pollard, which secured the Springboks their place in the second consecutive Rugby World Cup Final. George was asked in hindsight, as to wether England should have kept Joe Marler on for the scrummaging battle in the latter stages with South Africa, as the Harlequin was arguably Steve Borthwick’s top scrummager at the time. The hooker disregarded any ‘what ifs’ of the semi-final, and expressed how his squad have been learning from the loss as a cohesive unit.
"Always when you play in big games, you play in big games for England there are always going to be regrets when you lose. I have certainly got regrets from that game, I am hugely disappointed on the back of it. But in terms of personnel you can't really (say). But you learn from different challenges and losses. You learn a huge amount from losses but you learn from wins too. We learned a lot from that game but we know it is a huge challenge and we have got to be right on it.
"I would hate to be in a pack that was talking about giving away free kicks cheaply. For me, when you take on big powerful packs like South Africa you have got to take them on front on. If you are looking for ways out that is not the sort of messaging this team wants to give.”
Even with the final whistle of the Rugby World Cup semi-final sounding over a year ago, George certainly still feels the pain of the gut-punching 16-15 defeat. The England captain expressed how the mental wounds are still fresh, with the new-coming England players who played no part in the World Cup sharing the scars from an England fan’s perspective.
“I think the guys coming in are massive England fans so they feel the pain, too. That's the sort of team we are. We're a very close group. If you see someone hurting a little bit you hurt with them too. That's been pretty easy. In terms of emotion we don't try and play that (card) too early in the week. You sort of drip feed it during the week and I think people have latched on to that really well.”
George is expected to depart around the 50th minute to the hour mark, with replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie waiting on the sidelines for a significant impact. Cowan-Dickie has retained his spot in the number 16 shirt, having recently usurped Theo Dan to explode off the bench this Autumn. George expressed how he finds it tough to depart the pitch and watch on for the majority of the second half, yet he hammered home his faith in his vice-captains and the wider England leadership group.
"I would always want to be on the field. I think no player ever wants to be taken off. But I think we’ve got huge quality coming off the bench, so it’s completely understandable. But I also have utmost faith in the people that are coming on and, again we reflect back on the weekend and think about how we could have done some things differently and close out the game a little bit better. But I think regardless of the outcome of the game, I think the review of the performance in particular would have been a tough one regardless, because, as I said, we didn’t look like ourselves."
"There is a huge amount of experience coming onto the field. One person in particular coming off the bench, in George Ford. I think there’s no better player in World Rugby to close out a game than him. It's brilliant to be able to bring a player of his quality and experience off the bench."
Touching on George Ford, the fly half has certainly been at the forefront of the media spotlight this Autumn, after he returned to the England side in the opening defeat to New Zealand. The halfback sliced his match winning drop goal attempt, after sending a previous penalty crashing into the posts.
Ford has again been named in the number 22 shirt, with Steve Borthwick reinforcing his faith in the fly half for the Test against South Africa. Marcus Smith has once again been named to start in the 10 jersey, with the Harlequin continuing to progress as one of England’s real on-field leaders. George has certainly been impressed by the growth of Smith, and is excited to see how he will once again raise his game.
“He's (Marcus Smith) been at the heart of the evolution of this team. He's grown so much in the last 12 months as a leader but also as a player. He's a tough kid and his drive is very clear to see. I thought he was fantastic on Saturday. He can do things with the ball that not many people in world rugby can do. Outside of that the way he manages a team and the game is also very impressive.”
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