Porthen relishing Bok opportunities and scrum challenge

Springbok prop Zach Porthen, who has been named on the replacements bench to face England on Saturday, delved into the Bok scrum sessions and said both the excitement of the match and having the opportunity to scrum excited him.

The Boks’ opening match of the inaugural Nations Championship at Ellis Park kicks off at 5.40pm and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

“It's almost safe to say that a scrum session (at the Boks) is tougher than what you'd expect in a game,” said Porthen, who earned all three of his Test appearances in November last year.

“Ox (Nche), Boan (Venter) and all of the players are absolute beasts and it’s different every time you scrum against them.

“They are all different, so you learn a different skill each time. And it's not just the technical aspect of things that stands out for me. You have to be switched on every single time, so I've learned a lot in those sessions. Being able to go into that dark place is something I've learned a lot from in this environment.

“You just keep at it, because there are so many aspects of scrummaging. If you neglect one and master another, it doesn’t help, so we just try to stay on top of it all the time, and for me, it’s about simply taking it all in.”

With his ability to pack down at both tighthead and loosehead being one of his traits that has impressed the Springbok coaches, the 23-year-old Porthen said he’ll never shy away from a challenge.

“If a coach comes to me and asks for it, I'll say yes if it gets me in the team, especially if it's what's best for the side,” he said. “I'm all for it. If it comes up again, I'll do it.”

Of the prospect of facing England for the first time, the former Junior Springbok captain looked forward to the opportunity but admitted that it would be a massive battle.

“It's always tough against England,” he said. “History shows it's never an easy game. They are coming here this weekend, well organised, so it's going to be a difficult match, but we are looking forward to it.”

The team had Thursday off to rest and recuperate after a tough week of training and will return to the field on Friday for their captains’ run.

England men’s head coach Steve Borthwick has named his team to face South Africa on Saturday.

Jamie George captains the side, with Ollie Chessum and Ellis Genge serving as vice-captains.

The match marks England's opening fixture in the inaugural Nations Championship, with matches against Fiji and Argentina to follow in the coming weeks.

“Playing South Africa at Ellis Park is one of the great tests in world rugby and an opportunity we’re excited to embrace,” said Borthwick.

“We’ve prepared well since we arrived here last week and I sense a real excitement within the squad to get our Nations Championship campaign underway.”

Following the match in Johannesburg, England return for an 'away' fixture against Fiji at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool before travelling to Argentina to face Los Pumas at Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero in Round 3.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Canan Moodie.

England starting XV: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Cadan Murley; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Ollie Chessum: 5 George Martin, 4 Alex Coles; 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (capt), 1 Ellis Genge. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Marcus Smith.

South Africa v England @ 10bet Ellis Park, Johannesburg (5.40pm)

Referee: James Doleman (NZR)

Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Pierre Brousset (FFR)

Television Match Official: Richard Kelly (NZR)

Split Screen/FPRO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)