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<\/a>JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA \u2013 JULY 04: Tommy Freeman, Ben Earl and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso of England appear dejected after conceding their teams fourth try during the 2026 Nations Championship match between South Africa and England at Ellis Park Stadium on July 04, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by David Rogers \u2013 Nations Championship\/Nations Championship via Getty Images)<\/p>\nWe are still none the wiser as to whether Freeman can become a top-class international centre. There are no such doubts about his ability on the wing.<\/p>\n
Replacement: Move Freeman to the wing and bring in Henry Slade<\/p>\n
The experiment should end. Freeman should return to his strongest position, with the experienced Slade restored at outside centre.<\/p>\n
Tom Curry<\/p>\n
Curry worked tirelessly, making 16 tackles in just 55 minutes, but there were few standout moments from the Sale Sharks flanker.<\/p>\n
Much of his work came at the ruck as England attempted to stop South Africa from slowing possession, yet he was unable to pose his usual threat at the breakdown.<\/p>\n
He was penalised early in the second half under the new maul law after going beyond the ball and was also involved in the defensive lapse that allowed Grant Williams to score.<\/p>\n
Curry eventually made way for Guy Pepper after 54 minutes.<\/p>\n
The concern for England is that his season has provided growing evidence that the current Curry is not quite the destructive force of old.<\/p>\n
Replacement: Henry Pollock<\/p>\n
Pollock has been one of England\u2019s most explosive forwards and deserves an opportunity from the start against Fiji. His pace, carrying and relentless energy could provide exactly the spark Borthwick\u2019s back-row needs.<\/p>\n
CONTINUES ON PAGE THREE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy Freeman England\u2019s persistence with one of the world\u2019s best wingers at outside centre continued to underwhelm. Freeman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-675126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/South_Africa_v_England_-_2026_Nations_Championship-5-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA \u2013 JULY 04: Tommy Freeman, Ben Earl and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso of England appear dejected after conceding their teams fourth try during the 2026 Nations Championship match between South Africa and England at Ellis Park Stadium on July 04, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by David Rogers \u2013 Nations Championship\/Nations Championship via Getty Images)<\/p>\n