The piece argues that Borthwick's selection against the Springboks is a deliberate, all-in endorsement of Lee Blackett's attacking system — not a transitional pick but a purpose-built backline designed to express it. Furbank, Fin Smith, Atkinson, Freeman at 13, and the two wingers are each chosen for specific roles within Blackett's wider, more direct structure. The system showed genuine promise against France — 46 points in one match — but this weekend is framed as its real credential test, up against Felix Jones's hyper-aggressive blitz defence.
The other four takeaways are worth a read too. Pollock's bench placement is debated seriously — his club form is impossible to dismiss, but the piece sees logic in easing him in given England's back-row depth. Freeman's continued run at 13 is defended as structurally sound, not just experimental. The scrum battle — Nche, Marx and Du Toit versus Harrison's more patient England unit — is flagged as a genuinely fascinating tactical contrast. And the bench shape, particularly Pepper and Pollock as carriers, hints at Borthwick reviving the 'Pom Squad' impact role from the Autumn Nations Series.