Preview: SA BaaBaas v England
England will be looking for a midweek boost when they take on the SA Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom on Tuesday.
Stuart Lancaster's side may have lost the Test series to the Springboks already, but they are intent on ending their tour on a high, and the match at Olën Park represents a great opportunity for them to build some confidence ahead of the final Test in Port Elizabeth this weekend.
They face a Barbarians team that is packed full of players that coach Jimmy Stonehouse has mentored at provincial level for the Pumas, which should give them some vital cohesion.
The Southern Barbarians team surprised many by running in four tries against England in Kimberley last week, but were also exposed defensively by the England dirt-trackers, so their northern counterparts will be intent on improving in that area on Tuesday.
Powerful Harlequins wing Ugo Monye will make his first tour appearance on the left wing after recovering from a tight hamstring in one of six changes to Lancaster's midweek side.
Monye has recovered from a tight hamstring and will line up at Profert Olen Park in a side again captained by his Harlequins teammate George Robson.
Lee Dickson will start at scrumhalf in place of Danny Care who is favourite to replace the injured Ben Youngs in the Test team this weekend whilst elsewhere in the backline Nick Abendanon takes over from Alex Goode at fullback and Christian Wade switches to the right wing for George Lowe.
In the pack, Tom Youngs gets his first tour start at hooker instead of Joe Gray, as does Jamie Gibson for James Haskell, while Ben Morgan comes in at No.8 for Thomas Waldrom.
Karl Dickson, fresh into the squad as an injury replacement for Ben Youngs, will be on the bench.
Lancaster commented: “We have talked today about finishing the tour strongly this week and these players have a great opportunity to do this in the second of the two midweek games.
"There are still selection decisions to be made for Saturday but the players' focus will be on putting in a strong cohesive team performance and building on on the positives from last week, but also learning the lessons," he added.
Prediction: England will be determined to put in a more convincing performance than their midweek victory last week, and with places open in the Test side this weekend many of their players will want to prove their worth to Lancaster. The Northern Barbarians will be more settled than last week's team but may lack the same attacking flair so we are backing England to win by about 20 points.
Teams:
SA Barbarians (North): 15 JC Roos, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 JW Jonker (captain), 12 Joubert Engelbrecht, 11 Deon Scholtz, 10 Coenie van Wyk ,9 Shaun Venter, 8 Nicky Steyn, 7 MB Lusaseni, 6 Jaco Bouwer, 5 Rudi Mathee, 4 Eduan van der Walt, 3 Ashley Buys ,2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 17 Zane Kilian, 18 Boela Serfontein, 19 Martin Sithole, 20 Andries Mahoney, 21 Hoffman Maritz, 22 Tertius Maarman.
England: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Anthony Allen, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Carl Fearns, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 George Robson (captain), 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Paul Doran Jones, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Rupert Harden, 18 Mouritz Botha, 19 James Haskell, 20 Karl Dickson, 21 David Strettle, 22 Jonny May.
Date: Tuesday, June 19
Venue: Profert Olën Park, Potchestroom
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence