Ben Youngs expects more physicality from Springboks against England

England international Ben Youngs expects more physicality from South Africa when both the teams meet each other in the Old Mutual Cup series opener at Twickenham on Saturday.

In the 37 encounters they have played with South Africa, England have managed victories in just 12 games and have lost their previous five Tests against the Springboks played at Twickenham. The current England squad does not feature any player who has been part of the the red rose team that had defeated Springboks before.

However, the recent forms of both the teams have been contrasting with England on an unbeaten 10-match winning streak while South Africa have been struggling with their adopted style of play under head coach Allister Coetzee.

"Everyone knows the biggest thing they bring is physicality so the physicality element of the game is going to be key," Youngs said.

"They have added to their game with four-man and three-man line-outs, they've mixed it up a bit, but I think they'll go back to tradition and try to beat us up to a degree.

"But the boys are really focused on that. They're big guys and we need to get them down early. We've worked hard on our tackle technique and physically trying to win the gain line.

"Whenever I have played them I have never felt that we have been outclassed, more physically beaten up.

"In the games that we lost we got beaten up and they got the gain line easily and put us under pressure.

"I've never come off the field feeling there has been a massive gap, just that we haven't been able to match them physically."

Recently, England have added Melbourne Storm defensive coach Jason Ryles to help them prepare the defence against South Africa and Youngs insisted that the team is focused on the improving the defence ever since the third Test against Australia in Sydney, where they conceded 40 points.

"We naturally want to make two-man hits anyway, but Jason has come in to make sure we're physical enough in that area. We have focused on trying to hit and stick," Youngs said.

"It's not too different to what we have done previously, but with the ball-carrying threat they have we don't want to get into a one-on-one wrestling match, we want to be able to try to two-man tackle guys which will ultimately slow down the ball.

"We will be looking to get off the line pretty hard and try to put them under pressure.

"They are big physical guys and their nature is to come round the corner and be direct so with that we want to dominate that gain line by helping each other out and making it a two-man focus."