SA rugby director Rassie Erasmus yesterday attempted to predict the team that England will deploy in the world cup semi-final against the Springboks.

Saturday night’s semi-final in the French capital will be a rerun of the 2019 World Cup final in Japan, which the Springboks dominated to win 32-12.

England came into the world cup in shaky form under Steve Borthwick – who replaced Eddie Jones as head coach last December – but are currently the only unbeaten team left in the tournament.

During a press conference last night, Erasmus had his predicted England lineup written down on a piece of paper, but admitted he still had question marks over their backline.

“Now, we’re guessing, obviously. We took the basic guys – [Ellis] Genge, [Jamie] George, [Kyle] Sinckler, [Maro] Itoje, [Ollie] Chessum, [Courtney] Lawes, [Tom] Curry, [Ben] Earl, [Alex] Mitchell, [Owen] Farrell, [Elliot] Daly, [Manu] Tuilagi, [Joe] Marchant, [Jonny] May, Marcus Smith or [Freddie] Steward. That’s who we think, but we might be totally wrong.

“Firstly, guessing their team, it’s interesting – Smith, will he or Steward play? Smith has the massive X-factor while Steward is unbelievable under the high ball.

“Will Farrell play inside centre with Tuilagi outside or will Ford play fly-half and drop-goal everything there? They’ve got Lawes who can play lock and flank, he’s been such a rock at flank for them and they have the energy of the other two young loose forwards.

“They bring energy on the field in all departments. They’ve got Sinckler there, George and so many experienced players who played against us last time.

“I think because they played us [at the] end of last year, and they played us at the Rugby World Cup and Rugby World Cup final, I think they’ll have some beef with us,” Erasmus added.

“I think they’ll be very physical; they’ll definitely step it up in all set phases. Tuilagi, it’ll be a big job to stop him regardless of what position he plays.

“Then you have Farrell, and the new scrumhalf [Alex Mitchell] and I’m sure Danny Care and Ben Youngs will be in the mix.

“But the new scrum-half is certainly someone who can light it up with his breaks around the rucks. There are threats all over the park and it’s starting to get together for Borthwick.”