When South Africa hoist the ball high into the Paris night in today's Rugby World Cup semi-final, time will almost stand still for Freddie Steward.
The England full-back will launch himself off the ground in pursuit of the ball — and suddenly everything will slow to a crawl.
Steward describes his process of claiming high balls as one where as soon as he leaves the ground, events move in slow motion.
The Red Rose No15 will rise and aim to make a clean claim, and the moment his feet return to dry land, the game will whizz back up to full speed.
The ability to manipulate time and space in Test rugby’s fast lane has carried Steward to the summit of the game. The 22-year-old is arguably the world’s finest high-ball exponent, in both defence and attack, and England will be all the richer for having him in their starting line-up at the Stade de France.
Marcus Smith thrilled at full-back in England’s 30-24 quarter-final win over Fiji, but will miss the last-four battle with the Boks due to concussion protocols.
The Harlequins playmaker copped a whack to the face against the Fijians, and while he passed head checks during the match, has since failed elements of the recovery process.
England may well have selected Steward for this heavy-duty encounter in any case. The 6ft 5in powerhouse will add serious stability and safety to England’s backfield, and can also bolster their attacking game when they kick to contest and recover.
This will not be a match for the faint-hearted. The bone-on-bone collisions between these two teams might reach new levels.
England will need to summon all their strengths and channel a fury and physicality not delivered by a Red Rose team since the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
Eddie Jones’s men shocked the world that day, toppling the double defending champion All Blacks 19-7. Steve Borthwick’s men may need to exceed that performance level to dislodge the reigning champions now.
The bookies all have the Boks as overwhelming favourites, but, as in boxing, where styles make fights, South Africa’s approach might just suit England.
Fail to fire at the set-piece, however, and England will be in for more of the same treatment that was dished out to them in Yokohama.
Just like every other team to beat New Zealand in a World Cup knockout match that is not the final, England lost their next match, bombing out 32-12 in the showpiece to Siya Kolisi and Co. The scrum creaked considerably that day, and even after four long years, England’s front-rowers still have unfinished business.
Three key clashes for England vs South Africa
Dan Cole vs Steven Kitshoff
Tight-head Cole’s clash with Boks powermonger Kitshoff can come to define England’s whole scrum battle. South Africa boast the world’s best scrum, England the most improved in the last year. Cole will be desperate to prove his point after a humbling in the 2019 final. Sparks will fly right across the coalface, but nowhere more than in this one-on-one tussle.
Maro Itoje vs Eben Etzebeth
Itoje has been a real warrior for the best part of a generation now. The 28-year-old has had to fend off an unspecified issue that hindered his progress in the last year, but has hit back to top shape at the World Cup. Itoje believes his best is yet to come at this tournament, and he expects to deliver tomorrow. Etzebeth is the world’s premier enforcer these days, though, and will be out to subdue Itoje and, by extension, England.
Manu Tuilagi vs Damian De Allende
Two power centres will collide — and something has to give. This could be a case of whoever blinks first loses. Neither man will give an inch, but both will be out to take a mile. Witness the gainline slugfest in all its old-school glory here, as both teams set out to pummel the other into submission.
Kyle Sinckler cannot even remember the match, having been knocked out in the opening exchanges. Dan Cole would probably love to forget it, having had to play 77 minutes and fend off the Boks’ two sets of near-peerless props.
Cole later came to fear that that World Cup Final would be his last England appearance, only for Borthwick to bring him back into the fold for this year’s Six Nations. The 36-year-old Leicester prop and Bristol star Sinckler can exorcise some personal demons this weekend then, but only with a note-perfect scrummaging performance.
Leicester lock George Martin will win just his ninth cap when stepping up to start, with the 22-year-old packing down on the tight-head side of the second row. A big, bruising presence in the loose, England will need Martin to lock out their scrum by providing huge ballast to the front-rowers.
Martin might not even have heard of his namesake record producer, aka ‘the fifth Beatle’, but he will be under no illusions that he must make England’s scrum come together tomorrow.
England’s task to get back to where they once belonged, at Test rugby’s top table, could hardly be any tougher.
England coach Kevin Sinfield had to ask if he should keep going, so long was the list of superlative Springbok attributes he had decided to catalogue.
South Africa have even added a stunning wide game to their arsenal since the last World Cup, refining that further inside the last 12 months.
England will be out to demolish everything the Boks want to build. Whatever the Red Rose wreckers will lack in style, they must deliver in substance.
Suffocate the Springbok supremacists, and England might just have a chance.
