{"id":55313,"date":"2023-10-21T16:02:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T16:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal"},"modified":"2023-10-21T16:16:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T16:16:44","slug":"live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","title":{"rendered":"LIVE | Crunch time &#8230; all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 meet a round earlier in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has kept faith with the starting XV and bench that beat France at the same venue last Sunday. Cobus Reinach and Duane Vermeulen keep their places at scrumhalf and number eight respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Siya Kolisi, meanwhile, will captain the side for the 11th time in a Rugby World Cup match, equalling John Smit\u2019s record.<\/p>\n<p>For England, Joe Marler and George Martin come in at loose-head prop and second-row respectively, replacing Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum, who drop to the bench. Freddie Steward is recalled at full-back in place of Marcus Smith.<\/p>\n<p>In total, 26 of the 43 players from the Rugby World Cup 2019 final are back for another go in Saint-Denis in 2023 \u2014 with Elliot Daly, Manu Tuilagi, Jonny May, Tom Curry, Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje, Jamie George and captain Owen Farrell starting for England then and now; and Mbongeni Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Vermeulen, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Kolisi doing the same for the Springboks.<\/p>\n<p>FIXTURE HISTORY<\/p>\n<p>The first game between England and South Africa was in December 1906 at Crystal Palace. It ended 3-3. The semi-finalists have played one another 44 times since. The Springboks have won 27 times, including four of five Rugby World Cup matches, of which two were finals. England have won 16 times. Their only Rugby World Cup win came in the pool phase of the 2003 tournament.<\/p>\n<p>MEMORABLE MATCH<\/p>\n<p>England started as favourites against South Africa in the final of Rugby World Cup 2019. But it was Siya Kolisi who lifted the Webb Ellis Cup, after a clinical and controlled Springbok performance built on forward power and Handre\u0301 Pollard\u2019s boot, and finished with the magic of wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe.<\/p>\n<p>KEY TALKING POINT<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s kicking tactics so far. Manie Libbok and the Springboks have enjoyed notable success with their high bombs this tournament \u2014 particularly against France last Sunday. England clearly expect more of the same \u2014 it\u2019s in part why Freddie Steward has been recalled to England ranks for this match: to combat an expected highball threat and chew-up ground in reply.<\/p>\n<p>PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD<\/p>\n<p>Maro Itoje v Eben Etzebeth. Itoje has missed just 10 minutes of game-time across his total career tests against the Springboks for England and the British and Irish Lions combined. He tests himself, again, here against arguably the best second-row in the world right now, a player who is in an impressive run of form.<\/p>\n<p>STATS-AMAZING<\/p>\n<p>South Africa scored three tries in the first half of last Sunday\u2019s quarter-final against France, despite spending only 99 seconds of the opening 40 minutes with the ball in Les Bleus\u2019 half.<\/p>\n<p>Etzebeth scored their decisive fourth try, in the second half. It was his third touchdown in eight matches, a record that amounts to something of a spree for the second-row, who scored just three times in his first 110 tests.<\/p>\n<p>REF WATCH<\/p>\n<p>Ben O\u2019Keeffe (New Zealand). Having taken charge of South Africa\u2019s quarter-final win over France last weekend, O\u2019Keeffe returns for his first-ever Rugby World Cup semifinal, and his fifth match of the tournament. He was also the referee for the Springboks\u2019 42-39 win over England in June 2018.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\">South-Africa<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 meet a round earlier in 2023. South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has kept faith with the starting XV and bench that beat France at the same venue last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-55313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"469\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"LIVE | Crunch time &#8230; all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\"},\"wordCount\":575,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\",\"name\":\"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":469,\"caption\":\"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"LIVE | Crunch time &#8230; all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal - South Africa","description":"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal","og_description":"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":469,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"LIVE | Crunch time &#8230; all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal","datePublished":"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal"},"wordCount":575,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal","name":"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-21T16:02:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-21T16:16:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The finalists from four years ago \u2014 and the finalists from the last time that Rugby World Cup was hosted by France \u2014 mee ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/10\/sm_1697892324.654573.jpg","width":750,"height":469,"caption":"LIVE | Crunch time ... all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/live-crunch-time-all-the-action-in-boks-vs-england-rwc-semifinal#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"LIVE | Crunch time &#8230; all the action in Boks vs England RWC semifinal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}