Schalk Burger predicts ‘horrible experience’ for England against Springboks as Jean de Villiers issues ‘threat to be reckoned with’ warning
England forward Ollie Chessum and an inset of Springboks great Schalk Burger.
Jean de Villiers says that England will still pose a real threat to the Springboks in July despite enduring a torrid Six Nations campaign.
Steve Borthwick’s men entered the Championship as one of the favourites alongside France after winning 12 successive Test matches and extended that run to 13 with a compelling victory over Wales in round one.
However, their campaign unravelled from there as they suffered a hat-trick of defeats, losing the Calcutta Cup meeting with Scotland before being battered by Ireland and suffering a first-ever loss to Italy in round four.
England bounced back in the last round of the tournament as they pushed eventual champions France right down to the final play of the game in a 48-46 epic with Thomas Ramos slotting the winning kick.
Schalk Burger’s warning
Borthwick’s charges scored seven tries in the 13-try epic, and Burger believes that performance will give them a lot of confidence for their Nations Championship fixture at Ellis Park on 4 July.
Still, he warned that England has to perform at the level that they did at the Stade de France if they are to avoid a ‘horrible experience’ against the Springboks.
“That England performance will fill them with a lot of confidence and they will come to South Africa knowing that they have to be at their best – it was the same with that Paris game against France,” Burger said on the Verdict podcast.
“If you are a little bit off, if England comes here and the performance is off and inconsistent like they’ve been – losing four in a row in the Six Nations – it can be a horrible experience for them.”
Fellow Springboks great De Villiers said that while England started their campaign ‘poorly’, they ‘brought it back it’ in the latter part of the Championship and believes that they will still be a ‘threat to be reckoned with in July’.
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England have lost their last three meetings against the Springboks, doing so twice at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in 2022 and 2024, while also falling short in the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final.
They did beat South Africa 26-27 when the two nations met in London in 2021, while back in 2018, an Eddie Jones-coached England outfit lost the Test series in South Africa 2-1, winning the third encounter in Cape Town.
Following the Test against the Springboks, Borthwick’s charges return home where they will face Fiji at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool before heading to Argentina for their round three fixture against Los Pumas at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero.
Their home matches in November will be against Australia, Japan and New Zealand, respectively.
