ENGLAND vs SOUTH AFRICA RUGBY WORLD CUP Semi Final Coverage Live Stream

A fixture already draped in Rugby World Cup (RWC) history will enter another chapter in the second semi-final of this enthralling 2023 edition, as England prepare for their toughest test of the tournament so far when they face the IRB’s newly minted number one ranked side South Africa. The finalists from four years ago, who also contested the finale the last time rugby’s biggest spectacle was hosted on French soil in 2007, will now clash one round earlier hoping to realise back-to-back RWC finals, with England the last remaining country to fly the Northern Hemisphere flag, while South Africa will be gunning to make this years final an all-Southern Hemisphere affair for just the third time.
England, the 2003 RWC winners, have had their fair shares of scares this time round in France, such as having to launch a comeback to beat Samoa 18-17 in their final pool game, before needing to stave off a late FIjian onslaught to book their semi-final spot with an enthralling 30-24 victory in the quarters.
But the taste of victory is infectious, and with the Red Roses being the only undefeated team left in the tournament, they at least know how to scrape together results, albeit against lesser opposition than the mighty Springboks whom they’ve gotten the better of only once in five RWC H2Hs (L4), scoring just one try across those matches. That includes that loss in the 2007 final in the very stadium where they’re set to do battle here, while in 2019 England defeated each of South Africa’s Rugby Championship compatriots before falling short in Yokohama 32-12 against the Springboks.
The Red Roses often turn it up in the semis, though, having won four of their five appearances at this stage of the tournament. Hoping to continue that trend, coach Steve Borthwick has named three changes to his quarter-final winning team, which sees Joe Marler and George Martin come in at loose-head prop and lock respectively, while Freddie Steward returns at full-back, presumably to help deal with the Springboks’ heavy high-kicking game plan they’ve had so much success with so far.
As for South Africa, coach Jacques Nienaber has entrusted the same matchday 23 that got the job done in their blockbuster quarter-final against France, eventually running out 29-28 winners. That means captain Siya Kolisi will lead his country for an 11th time on the RWC stage, equalling John Smit’s Springbok record. All in all, 26 of the 43 players who participated in the 2019 RWC final return to the Stade de France for the 46th clash between these two great nations, with the scales currently tipped in the favour of the bookies’ favourites South Africa, who have won 27 of those encounters (D2, L16). Just hours before kickoff, these two countries will also be tussling for supremacy at the Cricket World Cup in India, with it being only the second time England and South Africa have met each other in both international men’s rugby and cricket on the same day.
The stars seem to be aligning for the Springboks, who proved exactly why they’re reigning world champions after their performance in the quarter-final against the hosts. Their more superstitious fans will have noticed their 2023 campaign has followed a similar suit to their victorious 2019 venture, where on both occasions they lost a pool stage game before going on to knock the hosts out of the quarters. They did look vulnerable at times against France though, where they trailed at half-time off the back of conceding three first-half tries, although that was only the fifth time in 48 RWC matches they’ve let their opponents cross the whitewash more than twice.
They’ll be hoping for a swift return to their fanatical defence that has garnered them so much success on the world stage, but they do have the good omen of playing in Paris to fall back on if need be, since they’ve lost only one of their last nine matches played in the French capital. The Springboks are therefore the ones with it all to lose, being the bookies’ favourites for the match and the crown, the IRB’s number one ranked side, and the defending champions, and hence they are expected to ultimately make it to successive RWC finals for the first time in their history.
Players to watch: Owen Farrell will need to put in a captain's performance if he is to guide his side to consecutive finals. Luckily, often being pegged as public enemy number one by many South Africans doesn’t seem to bother him, considering he’s scored 49 of England's 62 points in the last four tests he’s started against them. He might be the target of one of the Springboks enforcers Eben Etzebeth, who’s been in stellar form by scoring three tries in his last eight tests, doubling his international tally from the previous 118 caps.
Hot stat: The second half has been the higher scoring half in 19 of South Africa’s last 24 test matches. #england #southafrica #worldcup