Springboks braced for fearless England and unpredictable Pollock

Springboks braced for fearless England and unpredictable Pollock JOHANNESBURG, June 23 : South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus expects a fearless England when his Springbok side host the tourists in their Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on July 4, and played down the attention given to back row Henry Pollock. The world champions host England for the first time in eight years and hope to get their campaign in the new global competition off to a positive start with further matches against Scotland and Wales later in the month. "The England squad is good, their average age is about 27, and test caps around 32, so it's a young yet experienced squad," Erasmus told reporters on Tuesday. "There are a few older players in their 30s, which brings the experience, but the young guys will add fearlessness into a team that was in the World Cup semi-final (in 2023), and who have competed really well." Pollock garners plenty of media attention for his on-field antics but Erasmus says he has been in superb form. "He's like Siya (Kolisi)," Erasmus said. "People make a big deal about certain players, but I don't always think the players themselves want that attention. "What counts is what they do on the field, and recently, he's been doing that. If I were coaching him (Pollock), I'd only look at his output, and that has been exceptional." Erasmus adds that England are a difficult team to prepare for because coach Steve Borthwick likes to tinker with his game-plan. "Tactically, Steve is someone who works with numbers and chases trends, and that's always difficult to prepare against. If I say we know exactly what they'll do next Saturday, I'd be lying," Erasmus said. The Springbok coach says they will approach the Nations Championship one game at a time rather than thinking too far ahead about points on the table. "For many years, it's mostly been about the world rankings, so we just want to try and win every match and build squad depth, character, and a playing style that everyone is used to when we get to the World Cup next year," he said. "I don't think we really see this as a competition in the traditional log (table) sense. We'll approach each match individually, and that will be England first, then Scotland and Wales, and I'm sure they'll do the same."