Cardiff<\/a> wing after the Argentina clash. “It’s certainly something that will test this group and it’ll probably answer a lot of questions about where we are.<\/p>\n“How can we react from the Argentina game? The physicality, contact area, movement is all magnified against a team like South Africa so we have to be at the races.<\/p>\n
“We can talk about lots of areas of the game, but we’ve got to move quickly, hit hard and stay in the fight. Those are the simple things we need to work on this week.”<\/p>\n
On his side’s performance against Argentina, Adams added: “We were just slightly off it around our physicality, first time tackles, speed around the ruck \u2013 the basics where you need to be at it at this level.<\/p>\n
“We still managed to find ourselves in the Test match and it was going back and forth until they pulled away with a couple of scores before half-time.<\/p>\n
“Argentina are a good team when they stay on top of you and if you are not at it in the areas that I have mentioned \u2013 and with your discipline \u2013 then teams will punish you.”<\/p>\n
Slade credits England legend for recall<\/p>\n
By PA<\/p>\n
Henry Slade has revealed that advice from World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson paved the way for his England return.<\/p>\n
Until his comeback on this month\u2019s continent-hopping tour, Slade\u2019s most recent appearance was against Argentina in November \u2013 a match he feared might be his final outing at Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n
He has fallen in and out of favour since Steve Borthwick took over as head coach in 2022 and, despite being awarded an enhanced England contract for 2025-26, he saw converted wing Tommy Freeman take over at outside centre.<\/p>\n
But Slade\u2019s outstanding form as Exeter reached the Gallagher Prem final, coupled with the Freeman experiment being put on pause as injuries bite, have propelled him back into the starting XV.<\/p>\n
While his mum Jayne and wife Megan have proved helpful sounding boards, it is conversations with Wilkinson during coaching sessions with the hero of England\u2019s 2003 World Cup triumph that have made the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy career has not been plain sailing, there have been ups and downs and times when I\u2019ve had to come back and prove people wrong,\u201d Slade said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI speak to Jonny Wilkinson. He comes into camp and does a lot of kicking stuff with us. He\u2019s been good to talk to about things and he said you\u2019ve just got to control what you can control.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to believe in yourself and work hard and stick to the process and hopefully the opportunity comes around again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all you can do because selection is out of your hands \u2013 it\u2019s opinions and how other people want to piece a team together.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it\u2019s about is how well I prep my body each day, how I turn up for training and how well I play for Exeter at the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking it day by day, creating good habits and putting good performances together are hopefully enough to get another shot, and thankfully for me they have been enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollock sets England target as demand issued<\/p>\n
By PA<\/p>\n
Henry Pollock is eyeing a starting spot in England\u2019s back row as Steve Borthwick faces a clamour to promote his hat-trick hero from Saturday\u2019s blitz of Fiji.<\/p>\n
Former England stars Ben Youngs, Chris Ashton and Jeremy Guscott are among the voices to call for Pollock to be elevated from the supporting role he has been given for all but one of his 12 caps.<\/p>\n
It comes after the 21-year-old took top billing at Hill Dickinson Stadium with a trio of electric finishes that left Fijians trailing in his wake.<\/p>\n
Following the 73-8 victory Borthwick hinted that he would remain a high-impact replacement for the time being, but Ashton\u2019s reaction was \u201cstop messing about and put him in\u201d while Youngs urged \u201cjust start him, please!\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is an ambition shared by Pollock himself, with Saturday\u2019s showdown against Argentina his final opportunity to force his way in until the autumn.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big thing for me at the minute is wanting to get that starting shirt,\u201d he said. \u201cSteve said to me before the Fiji game to just go out there and be myself. I hope I did that and hope he saw enough in me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the same time, the depth in the squad is crazy good, so I\u2019m happy with any role I\u2019m playing as long as I\u2019m in the team. I\u2019m just trying to focus on myself and focus on my performances. Hopefully on the back of that, I\u2019ll get results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollock mimicked Jude Bellingham\u2019s outstretched arms celebration when he completed his hat-trick with seconds remaining to lift his hit rate to six tries in 12 Tests.<\/p>\n
While also capable of grafting at close quarters and making an impact at the breakdown, it is the flashier moments that have transformed him into the game\u2019s most talked about player.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his show of speed against Fiji, he said: \u201cIt is like a unique thing where I\u2019m able to back myself like that. I had the confidence and the ability to take boys on the outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m enjoying my rugby. I\u2019m very confident in myself and trust my ability. I just go out there and try and get into good positions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here’s your round-up of all the latest rugby headlines for Tuesday July 14. All Blacks legend hits out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7166,36918,5903,101,7168,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-690788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-england-rugby-union-team","tag-new-zealand-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-todays-updates","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690788","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=690788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_JS412264327.jpg\")
<\/p>\n