South Africa start warm favourites when they meet England in a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final on Sunday (AEDT) but Steve Borthwick’s team are the only side yet to suffer defeat, and their players are giving themselves every chance of winning the semi-final match-up.

“If you’re lucky, you manage to get two or three games of his magnitude, but over the course of a career, that’s not many. So we’re aware this an opportunity to take the bull by the horns,” says England star Maro Itoje.

“We have the game plan and we want to play a smart brand of rugby. As players we’ve talked about how we want to be, we’ve talked about that when you get to these games a lot of people say ‘oh, it’s just another game’. This isn’t just another game. This is a special game, so it’s about us seizing the moment. It’s about us being really present and taking advantage of the opportunities that we get.”

Here are five key talking points ahead of the match at St Denis.

Innovation vs concentration

The Springboks coaching duo of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have shaken up the tournament with some left-field thinking. Have they got more tricks up their sleeves for Steve Borthwick to deal with?

A case in point was when Damian Willemse took an early mark and called for a scrum instead of a kick in the quarter-final against France.

“It is the first time I have ever seen a player call a mark and ask for a scrum; a lot of people would not know you could even do that,” said France assistant Shaun Edwards in the Daily Mail this week.

“It shows how good South Africa’s understanding of the game is. To have the guts to take a scrum from the 22 against us on Sunday shows the confidence in their set piece. They are innovators.

“I have been in rugby union 20 years and I have never seen anyone do that. They utilise the rules to their advantage.”

England expect the unexpected.

“I’m sure with the smarts of their coaching team they will throw stuff at us,” said England assistant Richard Wigglesworth.

“Will that be what wins or loses the game? Probably not. It will be the big bits of the game and then they will give those nuances a chance. I wouldn’t like to guess what they will do because I know they watch everything we do in here so I wouldn’t want to give them a head start.”

By trying the unexpected the Boks coaches have gotten into the heads of their opposition. It’s crucial that England can keep their concentration no matter what twists come their way.

“[Concentration] is massively important,” says England winger Elliot Daly. “We have probably shown how our defence is getting better each game. Against Fiji we lacked that for five or six minutes and they scored two tries. We know we can’t do that in a semi-final. We know that we need to get better this week and hopefully we can stay on task in that regard.”

Scoreboard pressure is essential

When England went down to 14 men in their opening match against Argentina George Ford stepped up and slotted three drop goals in 10 minutes. If England are going to frustrate the Boks and keep it competitive it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take a 3-6-9 approach to their work through Owen Farrell.

Cheslin Kolbe’s charge down of Thomas Ramos’ conversion will be noted by England too and could well put pressure on Farrell, who had a kick timed out earlier in the tournament. English reporters were timing his technique at training this week and reckon there’s not a lot of room for error if Kolbe charges at him.

France started well with a try in the quarter-final but the Boks are relentless chasers of the game.

Win the kicking duels

South Africa smashed France in the kicking duel last week and England have reacted by bringing in Freddie Steward at No.15.

“We lost the aerial game on Sunday night. Again, South Africa fed off the scraps,” said Shaun Edwards. 

“They kick smart. They try to find weak points and that is why England had to pick Freddie Steward at fullback. He is the best in the world under the high ball and England’s aerial game is very good. 

“Jonny May and Elliot Daly are hugely experienced international players and I do not think they will have too many issues.”

Farrell said the Boks’ kicking prowess was nothing new and his team was prepared.

“That’s been a massive weapon of theirs for years and years now. They’ve progressed it. They go a lot of contestable kicks but not just off nine [scrum-half] they go across-field quite a lot now and they are lethal off turnovers at times,” Farrell says.

Owen Farrell . (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“We’ve done our work. We’ve obviously come up with our plan to negate what we can from them, but also to be able to attack it ourselves.”

He says he has complete faith in Steward, who replaces Marcus Smith (concussion) at 15.

“The thing about Freddie is that everybody knows how good he is in the air and everybody knows what a fantastic player he is in general. But it’s the want to do it, the want to be in those battles, the want to want to win the ball back for his team, the want to defuse what’s coming our way as well. He’s one of the best in the world at it.”

South Africa, meanwhile, have noted an expansion of England’s kicking game since the arrival of Steve Borthwick to replace Eddie Jones.

Steve Borthwick, the England head coach looks on in the warm up during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between England and Fiji at Stade Velodrome on October 15, 2023 in Marseille, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

“Like the French, they have a unique kicking game, they are comfortable not playing with the ball,” said Boks coach Jacques Nienaber.

“They like to strangle you, kick the ball in your half, apply the pressure and wait for you to make a mistake. From a tactical point of view, we know what’s coming and we just need to make sure we execute on the day.”

Nienaber’s assistant, Mzwandile Stick, added: “If you look at the way they are kicking, they are probably the closest team to France, the amount of kicks you get in a game.

“We analysed some of the games and even when they played against teams like Chile, they will probably go over 40 kicks in a game. That shows you that there’s a bit of tweaking in how they do things.”

The set-piece battle and clash of the power locks

Neither Itoje nor Springboks star Eben Etzebeth were too forthcoming on each other this week, despite the prompting by journalists eager to talk up their personal clash within the wider war.

“That’s neither here nor there for me. Eben Etzebeth is obviously a good player – they have four very good second-rows. It’s about playing the type of game I want to play,” Itoje said.

For Etzebeth it’s “not an individual thing, it’s a team thing. We don’t go out to go one-on-one against each other. It’s the Springboks versus England. In a game a few one-on-one battles will happen. It’s us against them.” 

Eztebeth has been outstanding again through the tournament – although lucky to escape a yellow card at a crucial time against France last week.

“It has been a year for him – a lot of ups and downs. He’s a strong guy. I have known him since I think we were 17,” said his skipper Siya Kolisi.

“We’ve got so close. I have gained so much more respect for him, how well he is playing and what this team means to him, after all he has been through. His wife has really helped him, and his family. 

“He is the enforcer, the guy who makes sure the discipline is good amongst the team and he is always there for anyone who needs help.

Eben Etzebeth of South Africa enjoys victory at the end of the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between France and South Africa at Stade de France on October 15, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“He will fight through anything to put on that green and gold jersey. He is the most experienced guy in the team. He will fight through injury and he inspires all of us. That really embodies what being a Springboks player should be. I’m proud of him and I’m looking forward to seeing him play against England.”

Itoje said his form is better than it was during the Six Nations campaign last season.

“I haven’t watched many of their games,” said Etzebeth. “He is a good player. There’s an old saying that form is temporary, class is permanent. I wouldn’t want to comment too much on his form but if he thinks it’s better now then it probably is.”

As much as those two big men could define the game there is a mountain of pressure on Itoje’s lock partner George Martin, 22, who has replaced Ollie Chessum in the engine room.

“George is a fantastic young player. He has been brilliant when he has come on the pitch,” said Itoje.

“He’s not only grown in terms of his physical sense, he’s a lot bigger now than when he first came in, but in terms of his understanding of the game, his ability to have big moments. He’s still a young man and has a beard four or five times the size of mine.

“George is a tough man. He is a tough tackler. He enjoys the scraps.”

Stick says the Boks have been impressed by the young Englishman. “Martin has been doing very well for them, one of the top upcoming young players and for him to get a starting place against the Springboks shows that the coaching staff really believe in his physique. He is a good player.”

Borthwick reflected on his decision to pitch Martin into such a high-pressure battle from the start.

“The front-row boys, they always talk about what they think on the second-rows, some pretty direct feedback on how much weight they’re giving. They are usually pretty positive about the weight George Martin gives,” said Borthwick.

“He’s a young man, very athletic young man but he is one that every challenge since I started working with him a few years ago, he’s embraced and ripped right into it.”

The scrum battle will also be critical to the outcome with South Africa’s bomb squad proving too explosive for France last week.

England have reacted by holding back Ellis Genge from the bench, with Joe Marler up against the South African starters.

“Both of these players [Marler and Genge] are top-quality scrummagers and I think that’s really important given the strength of the South African scrum,” Borthwick said.

“Every piece of information has them as the best scrum in the world. So, we know we are going to need to scrum well throughout the game – not just at loose-head but understanding the combination of the two sets of front row forwards we have, that’s also important.  

“I think Joe to start and Ellis to finish is the right combination this week.” 

Borthwick also has 80-minute man Jamie George at hooker.

“Jamie, the engine he has is phenomenal. I know he is an incredible runner. So, I know from a fitness point of view, Jamie has always got 80 minutes,” said Borthwick.

“One thing that is not always talked about with Jamie is what a great leader he is. There have been some moments in the last couple of games when he’s been really influential.” 

Edwards said of France’s downfall: “What we did not do was match their finishers in the scrum. Ox Nche made a phenomenal impact on the scrum from the bench. 

“We have got a very good scrum but they got the better of us. Even when it is not a 6-2 split (6 forwards, 2 backs) on the bench they were still formidable. 

“You need similar size men coming on yourself and I think it is a good tactic against the Boks to have your best scrummagers on the bench. 

“Joe Marler and Dan Cole have a lot of experience and size… I thought Borthwick might have brought them off the bench but Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler are just as capable of making an impact. 

“It is a 23-man game. South Africa start with their best attacking players and finish with their best defensive options.”

Wigglesworth said England understood that the ruck was a “massive challenge” for anyone facing the Springboks.

“They slow the game down. They are very explosive for four or five rucks. They do not go through 10 or 11 rucks like the All Blacks. They go maximum speed and intensity in the first three rucks and we looked closely at that. We must do the same,” said the assistant.

“It’s a massive challenge against South Africa, the ruck. They compete. If you have the ball and switch off for a second, they will pull bodies into it. They are among the best in the world in that area. It has definitely been a focus for us this week, in terms of how we get that bit right because if you are playing against this defence off slow ball, it will swallow you up. 

“As for the referee (Ben O’Keeffe}, I’ve got full trust that he will do a great job in that area.”

The leaders

Emotionally, outwardly at least, Kolisi and Farrell seems at either end of the spectrum. The South African is an effusive talker about his nation and teammates, sings proudly in the tunnel before games. Farrell is more reserved, but no less inspirational for his team – although there have been rumours of some ill-feeling in the background of this campaign.

Farrell is likely to go most of the way to the 80 minutes on Sunday, while Kolisi was off before the hour mark against France.

“In our squad, we don’t see him as a superstar, we see him as a guy who is close to us who we’ve known from a young age,” said Etzebeth.

“He is a superstar to the people and to the communities but for us he is a friend to us, just a normal person who enjoys a silly joke or just some stupid laughter.

“People talk a lot about him off the pitch, but what they don’t see on the pitch is the work rate and what a difference he makes to get to those breakdowns. It’s incredible. The unseen work, his work ethic. He is an underrated player for what he does for us the team.”

 (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Damian de Allende added: “At my club in Japan there are players who are big in Japan. Siya is known across the world, and sometimes I feel… I wouldn’t say sorry for him, because his image is so good and he is so giving. He is so selfless and he takes a lot of his own time to make people happy. 

“On days his body might be sore and mentally very tired, but he will always take time to make someone happy. We are very lucky and privileged to have him in the squad and we’ll all be closer to him after rugby.”