Steve Borthwick is reportedly set to take a leaf out of Rassie Erasmus’ playbook and deploy a 6-2 bench split for England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday.

According to the UK’s Telegraph, head coach Borthwick will select six forwards among the England replacements for the Aviva Stadium clash, with Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South and Tom Willis likely to feature off the wood

It is also understood that the Curry brothers, Tom and Ben, will start in the back row with Ben Earl against the defending champions in Dublin.

The world champion Springboks, under Erasmus, have often leveraged their unique strategy of packing the bench with forwards for a six-two split. In the 2023 World Cup final, South Africa even selected seven forwards among their replacements, allowing them to almost replace their entire pack.

In other team news, Alex Mitchell is set to start alongside flyhalf Marcus Smith for the Roses in the Irish capital, marking the scrumhalf’s return after recent injury setbacks.

Fullback Freddie Steward is expected to run out in a potent back three with wingers Tommy Freeman and Tom Roebuck. Up front, Luke Cowan-Dickie is tipped to replace Jamie George at hooker, supported by Ellis Genge and Will Stuart in the front row.

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This is un-acceptable! Springboks veteran accuses Leinster players of ‘unsportsmanlike’ behaviour in Stormers’ URC defeat

Stormers scrum-half Paul de Wet in action against Leinster and the Cape Town-based outfit’s captain Deon Fourie.

Stormers skipper Deon Fourie has hit out at the “unsportsmanlike” behaviour of some Leinster players during Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Leinster have won all 10 of their matches in the competition and consolidated their position at the top of the table after clinching a one-sided 36-12 bonus-point triumph over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Stormers have now lost five out of nine matches in the URC and their defeat to Leinster leaves the Cape Town-based outfit languishing in 12th position in the standings.

After Saturday’s clash, Fourie revealed that an incident occurred ahead of a lineout throw-in where Stormers hooker Joseph Dweba battled to hear the call from his team-mates.

Informed the referee during the match

A frustrated Fourie said he informed the referee, Eoghan Cross, of the Leinster players’ interference at the lineouts but to no avail.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this… but there’s a certain line where sportsmanship comes into play,” said the veteran Springboks flanker.

“I won’t mention names who did it, but them running numbers and shouting while we must call our line-outs.

“And then we can’t hear what we must do or react on our calls.

‘It’s not good for the game’

“I asked the referee a few times to stop it, but it didn’t work, for me it’s unsportsmanlike and it’s not good for the game.

“Otherwise this game is just going to be a shouting game in the future.”

The Stormers gave a good account of themselves during the first half but things went awry for the men from the Cape when they lost star fly-half Manie Libbok to a leg injury late in the first half.

At the time of Libbok’s departure, Leinster held a slender 10-7 lead but Stormers head coach John Dobson’s decision not to have a back-up fly-half amongst his replacements backfired and they lost their way as their opponents eventually outscored them by five tries to two.

The Stormers’ next match is a South African derby in Cape Town on February 8.