The piece makes a pointed case that South African supporters — and parts of the media — are dangerously underestimating England ahead of Saturday's Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park. The argument isn't built on sentiment: England scored seven tries against France in Paris in their final Six Nations outing and should arguably have won that match. Their mid-tournament collapse had clear contextual drivers — a psychologically devastating loss to Scotland at Murrayfield knocked them sideways before they'd recovered composure — and their sixth-place ranking flatters neither the chaos of that competition nor the quality Borthwick's squad has shown at its best. The piece also flags a structural concern that Bok supporters tend to overlook: this is South Africa's first game since November, and the Boks have a well-documented habit of rustiness at the start of a season — the near-miss against Ireland in Pretoria in 2024 and the Italy wobble at Loftus last year are cited as recent reminders. Erasmus's public respect for England, including his framing of Henry Pollock as a generational talent, is read not as diplomatic noise but as genuine tactical signalling — winding Pollock up, the piece argues, is precisely the wrong approach. The broader point is that Erasmus has had this fixture circled since January for good reason, and the Boks' internal caution is better calibrated to the actual threat than the scoreline-hunting mood among supporters.