A selection of facts and statistics ahead of the Rugby World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa Stade de France on Saturday.
* England have scored just one try across their five meetings with South Africa in the men’s Rugby World Cup, it came during their sole win against the Boks in the competition ; in fact, none of the previous five ties between these two sides have seen both teams cross the line. * South Africa and England are two of three teams, alongside Japan to have gained fewer than 26 metres per kick in play during this year’s Rugby World Cup, however, England are also the only team to have averaged 30+ kicks in play per game and have retained possession from 20% of their kicks, the highest such rate of any side.
* England’s Ben Earl has made the joint-most line breaks and the beaten the second-most defenders of any forward in this year’s Rugby World Cup, Earl has also completed at least 16 more tackles than any of his teammates .