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England ready for Rassie's tricks

JUNE SPOTLIGHT: New Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is renowned for his innovative tricks – from flash cards to disco lights on top of the main grandstand.

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The Springboks’ 20-22 loss to Wales in Washington, this past weekend, suggested the Boks will employ a conservative approach against England in their three-Test June series.

However, England loose forward Chris Robshaw expects to face a much different South African side to the one that travelled to America last week.

Apart from the expected rash of changes to their starting XV, Robshaw suggested the Boks may have a few tricks up their proverbial sleeves.

“The South Africans are getting a bit of form back and playing well,” the English flank said.

“They might be coming off the back of a couple of losses, but they have some great players in there – as well as a new coach.

“We’re unsure of what they’re going to bring,” Robshaw said, adding: “I’m sure they’ll have some tricks up their sleeve and we have to be ready for that.”

Although England has only registered one victory over the Boks in their last 13 attempts, the most recent was a 37-21 result at Twickenham in November 2016.

And it’ll have to be a performance Eddie Jones’ men can emulate, if they are to make history and be the first England side to win a Test series in South Africa.

“It is all about this series, we know we’ve had to address some things from the Six Nations which we’ve hopefully fixed, but for us to come down here it is about winning the series – that’s what our mindset is,” he explained.

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“This is going to be an exciting but challenging tour, and we have to make sure we’re on it.”

* Meanwhile media dispatches coming for the English team’s training base just outside Durban, lock Joe Launchbury is continuing to struggle with a calf injury and remains doubtful to take on South Africa in the first Test of the series in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Launchbury was seen training on his own in Durban, with the Wasps man going through stretching exercises, whilst the rest of the team trained as normal.

With both George Kruis and Courtney Lawes injured and unavailable for the tour, England opted to take just four second row forwards to South Africa and an injury to Launchbury would open the door for either Nick Isiekwe or Jonny Hill to start alongside Maro Itoje on Saturday.

The extent of Launchbury’s injury is not yet known.

Both Isiekwe and Hill enjoyed strong 2017/18 campaigns with Saracens and Exeter Chiefs respectively and would be ready to fill the void, but this could have knock-on implications on England’s back row – where Isiekwe was also being tipped to make an impact.

England scrum coach Neal Hatley said Launchbury was a vital cog in the England machine.

“We’ve just got to make sure Joe is fit to play 80 minutes,” Hatley said.

“If he’s not fit to play 80 minutes then we’d expect Nick Isiekwe, Jonny Hill and guys like that to stand up and fill his shoes.

“Joe has played over 50 Tests now so he’s got invaluable experience, but if he’s not fit to go then it’s a great opportunity for those two other boys.”

@rugby365com

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