B e careful what you wish for. That would be my message to England supporters getting a little bit ahead of themselves and wishing that South Africa were due at Twickenham on Sunday. By all means get a little carried away – that’s the beauty of following a team on a winning run and it’s a demonstration of the confidence surrounding this England team at the moment – but the Springboks can wait until next summer.

South Africa remain the standard-bearers in world rugby. They are perfectly placed to achieve their goal of finishing the year as the No 1 team in the world and, given South Africa have never won in Dublin under Rassie Erasmus, there will be plenty of motivation to create another slice of history against Ireland on Saturday. The question is, have England closed the gap this autumn

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