Rassie Erasmus on the influence of rugby’s new ‘set phase’ against England and the ‘destiny’ of the Springboks losing Etzebeth and Kolisi to injury

The Springboks have explained what it was like to readjust their team to play England after it was confirmed late in the week that Eben Etzebeth and skipper Siya Kolisi weren’t able to start.

Second row Etzebeth, South Africa’s most capped Test player with 141 appearances, and double World Cup-winning captain Kolisi, who has 103 caps, were both named last Monday in Rassie Erasmus’ side to host the English in Johannesburg in round one of the new Nations Championship.

However, Etzebeth sustained a bang to his head at training on Tuesday that he didn’t fully recover from, while Kolisi pulled up