England recall Steward for World Cup semi-final against South Africa

Freddie Steward has been recalled to England’s starting line-up for Saturday’s World Cup semi-final against South Africa with Marcus Smith absent from the matchday squad. Smith has been unable to fully train this week and misses out entirely with Steward returning the the No 15 jersey.

Elsewhere, Steve Borthwick has handed surprise starts to Joe Marler and George Martin in the pack in place of the vice-captain Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum, respectively. It is a second start of the tournament for Marler, who was preferred to Genge against Japan, and likewise for Martin, who started against Chile. Chessum’s omission comes as a considerable surprise but Martin offers more ballast to confront the Springboks’ power.

While Smith’s fitness concerns – according to the defence coach Kevin Sinfield he “got his face smashed all over the place” against Fiji last week – have made Borthwick’s decision at fullback a straightforward one, Steward might have been recalled regardless. At 6ft 2in he offers a safer pair of hands at fullback and though he sat out the quarter-final and the victory over Chile, he has started every other England Test since he made his debut in the summer of 2021.

Sinfield has also been glowing in his praise of how Steward dealt with his omission for the quarter‑final. “I’ve worked with Fred for some time now,” the defence coach said this week. “Thankfully I’ve not had to have many of these conversations where I’m trying to pick him up. Clearly he’s disappointed, as anyone would be missing out on a quarter‑final, but he’s responded as we’d expect him to.

“Just because Fred wasn’t selected last week doesn’t mean he does anything wrong, he has actually done a lot of great things and a lot of things right, but Steve and the coaching team thought it was the right thing to go with Marcus.”

Elsewhere, Borthwick has stuck by 12 of the side who overcame Fiji, meaning there are eight survivors from the side who were beaten by the Springboks in the 2019 final. Jamie George continues at hooker with Dan Cole facing South Africa for the first time since he came off the bench early in the 2019 final and was given a torrid time by the Springboks scrum. Maro Itoje partners Martin in the second row while Courtney Lawes, Tom Curry and Ben Earl continue in the back row.

Alex Mitchell is again at scrum-half while Owen Farrell captains the side from fly-half and Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant continue their midfield partnership. Jonny May and Elliot Daly are again selected on the wings. Genge, Theo Dan and Kyle Sinckler provide front-row cover while Chessum, Billy Vunipola, Danny Care, George Ford and Ollie Lawrence are also among the replacements.

“After an excellent few days’ preparation in Paris, we look forward to the challenge of playing the world champions and number one ranked team in the world,” said Borthwick. “Through this tournament the team has progressed, with the players repeatedly finding a way to win, sometimes in challenging circumstances. We will once again need to be at our very best this weekend as we face an excellent team in South Africa.

“There is no doubt the players will truly relish the challenge of knockout rugby under the lights in Paris. These players will, as they have done in every game of this tournament, give absolutely everything in the semi-final to get the result we want.”