Discipline is still an issue
After being hampered by yellow cards throughout their dire Six Nations campaign, one might've assumed that England would look to fix their discipline as a matter of high priority when they took on the back-to-back World Champions. Unfortunately, in the biggest moments, England crumbled. Pepper and Opoku-Fordjour were both sent to the bin in the final 10 minutes which effectively ended the game as a contest. The visitors were actually in the game until the final stages but were the architects of their own downfall once again.
England haven't improved
As mentioned above, discipline hasn't improved. Worryingly, that seems to be a theme. Borthwick was given backing until the end of the summer by the RFU and surely needs convincing wins against Fiji and Argentina to stay in his job; particularly now that Sean Edwards is available. The team also struggled to create much in attack and looked too vulnerable defensively. The Wigglesworth-McGuigan partnership needs to get things going quickly or it could be over before it ever really began.
George Furbank has terrible luck
Before kickoff there was news of 3 late changes. Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth were withdrawn late on by South Africa whilst George Furbank was replaced by Marcus Smith at fullback for England. After rotten injury luck, which has involved everything from broken bones to concussions, Furbank finally looked set to lay claim to the 15 jersey for his country. Instead, he was diagnosed with appendictis and found himself having his appendix removed in South Africa rather than playing against the Springboks.
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