Local lad Jack van Portvliet has been announced as England's Scrum-half (number 9) in the England v South Africa Autumn International match this weekend, Saturday the 26th of November 2022.

Born in Norfolk, Jack van Portvliet began playing in the Leicester Tigers academy aged 12, and was accepted to Oakham School aged 13 to develop his rugby skills.

Since, Jack has jumped from strength-to-strength, and has represented England since 2020 in the under 20 squad, moving on to play in the senior England squad in June of this year.

This weekend, England host the Springboks at Twickenham Stadium in their final Autumn Nations Series game this Saturday the 26th of November, and Portvliet will be starting at number 9.

Manu Tuilagi will make his 50th appearance for England at outside centre, having made his debut for England against Wales in August 2011. Owen Farrell will again captain the side at inside centre.

Marcus Smith is at fly half and Jack van Poortvliet is at scrum half. Tommy Freeman comes in at right wing, Jonny May is at left wing and Freddie Steward is full back.

Jamie George (hooker) and Mako Vunipola join fellow prop Kyle Sinckler in two changes to the starting front row. Maro Itoje and Jonny Hill stay at lock. Alex Coles comes in at flanker with Tom Curry, while Billy Vunipola is No.8.

Last weekend's double-try scorer Will Stuart is named as a finisher along with Luke Cowan-Dickie, David Ribbans, Sam Simmonds, Ben Youngs, Henry Slade and vice-captains Ellis Genge and Jack Nowell.

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"This is our last game of the autumn and our chance to continue building on the improvements we have made throughout the matches," said Jones. "We have made steady progress from game-to-game, culminating in a pulsating draw against New Zealand.

"Now we have the chance to test ourselves against the might of the world champions. We're going out there to light the crowd up. The support at Twickenham was outstanding last week and we want to work hard on the pitch to make sure we have another atmosphere like that again on Saturday."

This follows an outstanding success for Portvliet who, in the England v Argentina match at the start of November, scored a try within his first 60 seconds of being on the field. Read more here.

Kick-off will be at 5:30pm, and there are a great range of sports bars in Oakham to enjoy a variety of sports this weekend, from The Crown Tavern to Bill's Bar.