England v South Africa team news LIVE: Freddie Steward starts as hosts make four changes for Twickenham clash – UK Times

Jack van Poortvliet is back in an England side for the first time since fracturing his ankle during last year’s World Cup warm-up fixtures.

Steward takes the place of George Furbank at full-back, hinting at a shift in strategy, while Van Poortvliet is preferred to Ben Spencer at scrum half and in line to make his first international appearance since breaking his ankle last August.

England XV to face South Africa at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham (5.40pm GMT, Saturday 16 November): 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George (captain), 3 Will Stuart; 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin; 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl; 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 10 Marcus Smith; 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 12 Henry Slade, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 14 Tommy Freeman; 15 Freddie Steward.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Alex Dombrandt; 21 Harry Randall, 22 George Ford, 23 Tom Roebuck.

England will confirm their team in half-an-hour – what changes will we see? Tom Curry and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso are both ruled out with head injuries.

Maro Itoje insists England are determined to make amends after their autumn blues continued.

World champions South Africa are the daunting assignment facing Steve Borthwick’s men next Saturday as they look to regroup following defeats by New Zealand and the Wallabies.

Australia are ranked ninth in the world and finished bottom of the Rugby Championship, yet they struck three minutes into overtime to snatch victory in a frantic climax that scrambled the brains of everyone at Twickenham.

Itoje says England are eager “to do the fans proud” by dispatching the Springboks, putting a respectable shine on a Autumn Nations Series that has so far provided only crushing disappointment.

The loss to Australia might have been England’s most damaging defeat yet, the hosts playing entirely into the Wallabies’ hands as they deviated from Steve Borthwick’s gameplan.

While three narrow defeats to the All Blacks came against high-class opposition, the Wallabies have been languishing in the world rankings and finished bottom of the Rugby Championship, yet came out on top in a helter-skelter affair at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

Tommy Freeman is eager to erase the distressing memory of his last appearance against South Africa at the Allianz Stadium when England face the world champions on Saturday.

Two years ago Freeman became a victim of Eddie Jones’ brutal policy of replacing players early in matches if he felt they were underperforming, resulting in his substitution at half-time of the 27-13 defeat.

The Northampton wing, who was 21 at the time and making only his third Test appearance, was scapegoated for England’s aerial game malfunctioning, although he was never given an explanation by Jones for his removal.

South Africa have rung the changes for their clash with England as Rassie Erasmus recalls most of his key individuals to his starting side.

Siya Kolisi, RG Snyman and Pieter-Steph du Toit are among those promoted from the bench, while Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Cheslin Kolbe return after being rested at Murrayfield.

Wilco Louw is in line for a rare start at tighthead in the absence of Frans Malherbe, and Manie Libbok is backed ahead of Handre Pollard having been hooked half-an-hour into last year’s World Cup semi-final between these two sides.

“We always like to give guys chances again. Manie hasn’t played a lot in the last couple of weeks, so we’ve had to get him going. He had a bit of a break with the Stormers, whereas Handre has kept playing, playing, playing. We’d like to give Manie a second chance, and we know what his skillset is. We’ve got security on the bench with Handre.”