England are primed to tackle Springboks' biggest home advantage
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: England captain Jamie George is confident his team has done the necessary preparations to cope with the high altitude at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The visitors arrived in South Africa for the Nations Championship opener a fortnight ago in an effort to acclimatise.
George said they have gone through some “horrible watt bike sessions” leading up to the match against the Springboks.
Johannesburg sits just over 1,700m above sea level, and visiting sides have struggled to cope with the thin air in previous years.
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As a result, teams have tired out and shown signs of fatigue in the latter parts of games, and one could argue that the Springboks fell into the same trap after a blistering start in their 38-22 loss against Australia last year.
For England, it will be the first time they play the Boks in Johannesburg since that iconic showdown in 2018.
The Roses got off to a fast start in the clash and led the Boks 24-3 after 20 minutes but ran out of steam in the second half.
Skipper Jamie George was involved in that clash, and believes this time around, they’re well prepared for the demands of playing at the iconic venue.
“I guess we’ll wait and see,” he said when asked about the altitude factor.
“The proof will be in the pudding, I suppose, but there’s always a lot of talk about coming over here or Pretoria.
“It is what it is; we have an amazing sports science team who prepare us very well.
“We’ve been doing some pretty horrible watt bike sessions with altitude masks on, so we’ve been preparing as well as we possibly can.
“Test match rugby is very physically demanding so we know that, and probably not more so playing against the Springboks.”
While altitude, Henry Pollock, and the ticket pricing for the Test have dominated headlines this week, England have also shown immense respect for the Boks when quizzed about the World Champions.
Earlier in the week, loose forward Ben Earl and Alex Coles sang praises for the Bok forward pack, while Seb Atkinson said he was eager to test himself against the centre pairing of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.
Steve Borthwick, meanwhile, labelled their opponents as the benchmark of World Rugby.
There might be loads of respect shown by the visitors, but George insists it won’t be all lovey-dovey come Saturday.
“We have come here with a plan,” the skipper shared.
“We are very proud of the way we analyse opposition; we’ve done some good analysis whilst also understanding they’re going to have a few things up their sleeves.
“It’s important for us to play our game. We come here, and we back ourselves; we’re not just coming here to take part.
“We’re here to do as well as we possibly can and try and win the game. There is a genuine sense of real excitement at the opportunity that’s ahead of us.”
When asked about how high the confidence levels are in the camp after a disastrous Six Nations campaign, George said: “The Six Nations didn’t go the way we wanted it to go.
“We didn’t perform in the way we wanted to perform, but equally at this level, you want to measure yourself against the best, and the Springboks have been the best for as long as I can remember.
“We are here, aware of the challenge and have prepared as best as we possibly can.
“We will give our best version on Saturday, and if we do that, it’s going to be a fantastic Test match.”
