Eddie Jones has confirmed that lock Maro Itoje will shift to the loose trio for his country when England and the Springboks clash in London on Saturday.

Itoje, starting at lock, easily had one of his best Test matches in 2022 as the Roses fought back to draw 25-25 with the All Blacks at Twickenham last week.

However, coach Jones is keen to deploy two specialist No 8s in Sam Simmonds and Billy Vunipola in the back row against the Boks – a tactic he deployed against New Zealand – in order to bolster England’s lineout to disrupt South Africa.

ALSO: Itoje: South Africa haven’t changed!

Itoje would then move to blindside flanker, with South African-born David Ribbans, who impressed off the bench against New Zealand, starting at lock.

“We probably need three jumpers against South Africa. It’s going to be a higher kicking game so we will have a look at that,” Jones said in the build up to the titanic battle between the English and world champions.

“We were a bit disappointed early on against New Zealand about the effectiveness of our ruck defence. Ardie Savea we handled pretty well.

“Tom Curry and Sam Simmonds defensively were good and that is the best Test match I’ve seen Billy Vunipola play since 2019.”

MORE: Can Boks make it rain at Twickenham?

Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix