There’s a shopping-channel largesse to the international fixture list on Saturday. What’s the only thing better than a World Cup crunch match between England and South Africa? Two World Cup crunch matches between England and South Africa! With the cricket coverage starting at 9am BST and the rugby build-up beginning at 7.15pm, the timings fall perfectly for both sets of fans (South Africans get to lie in for an extra hour). Order in the beers and biltong, and prepare yourself for a true endurance event, the armchair equivalent of an ultra-marathon.
Super Saffa Saturday, as no one is yet calling it, is a curious quirk in the sporting calendar. It will be the first time two nations have faced off in a Rugby and Cricket World Cup on the same day, a unique wrinkle in time fashioned by Covid and the subsequent shunting of the 50-over tournament from February to October. Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that the context of the games feels just as anomalous. There is, after all, something deeply topsy-turvy going on with the two England teams. Jos Buttler’s white-ball double world champions desperately need a win having lost two of their first three group games. If they fall to the Proteas – or any of their remaining opponents – a face-reddening failure to qualify for the knockouts becomes a strong possibility. Steve Borthwick’s side, meanwhile, have stunk over the past nine months, but find themselves one match away from the final. Ireland and France, their infinite betters, have already gone home.
