Ken Borland

England captain Chris Robshaw will miss the third and final Test against South Africa on Saturday after he cracked a thumb in the second Test in Johannesburg last weekend, coach Stuart Lancaster confirmed on Monday.

Lancaster said Robshaw took a blow to the thumb in the first Test in Durban and then another blow in the second Test. Scans of the thumb on Monday revealed an undisplaced fracture and the medical advice was that the openside flank should not play in the third Test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday so as to avoid possible surgery.

Hooker Dylan Hartley will take over the captaincy, Lancaster told a news conference in Johannesburg on Monday.

“It’s disappointing to lose our captain and also such an influential player. Last August Chris was not even in the World Cup squad and what he has done since then has just been outstanding. He will now miss just his third game this season which, playing in such an attritional position, is amazing.

“But Dylan has always been part of the leadership group, he’s driven training, he’s the first-choice in his position, respected by the players and captain at Northampton,” Lancaster said.

Robshaw has been a tremendous force at the breakdowns, despite England’s two narrow defeats in the first two Tests, but potential replacements Thomas Waldrom and James Haskell have both produced powerful performances on tour already. Phil Dowson is also expected to return to training this week after a tight hamstring kept him off the replacements’ bench for the second Test.

Lancaster also announced the England team to play a tour match against the SA Northern Barbarians in Potchefstroom on Tuesday, with the most notable selection being that of Lee Dickson at scrumhalf.

The coach said Dickson will use the match to get some crucial game time following the shoulder injury that has forced Test scrumhalf Ben Youngs out of the tour.

Dickson has been on the bench for the first two Tests and will be competing with the experienced, livewire halfback Danny Care for a place in the starting XV for the final Test.

“It’s a useful opportunity for people who need some game time, like Lee Dickson. He’s desperate to play and he was always going to start this game. We’ll probably take him off to protect him at half-time,” Lancaster said.

Lee Dickson’s older brother Karl, who arrived in South Africa on Monday morning as the replacement for Youngs, will then replace him.

The midweek team will once again be led by lock George Robson and shows six changes from the side that beat the SA Southern Barbarians last week, including a start for British and Irish Lions wing Ugo Monye, who has recovered from a hamstring niggle.

“We want to finish with two wins this week, finish on a high. It’s important to finish on a high note,” Robson stated.

Team – 15-Nick Abendanon, 14-Christian Wade, 13-Anthony Allen, 12-Jordan Turner-Hall, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Charlie Hodgson, 9-Lee Dickson, 8-Ben Morgan, 7-Carl Fearns, 6-Jamie Gibson, 5-George Robson, 4-Graham Kitchener, 3-Paul Doran-Jones, 2-Tom Youngs, 1-Matt Mullan. Replacements: 16-Joe Gray, 17-Rupert Harden, 18-Mouritz Botha, 19-James Haskell, 20-Karl Dickson, 21-David Strettle, 22-Jonny May.

The England team have been forced to make a change to the bench for the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday, with Phil Dowson, the loose forward cover, ruled out due to injury.

According to a statement released by the England management on Friday, Dowson is suffering from a tight hamstring after the training session on Thursday and the medical staff decided to withdraw him from the match 22.

Dowson’s place amongst the replacements is taken by the uncapped, New Zealand-born Thomas Waldrom, who was the man of the match in the midweek victory over the Southern Barbarians in Kimberley.

The 29-year-old former Hurricanes and Crusaders player showed exactly the sort of power and physicality at eighthman that England will need against the Springboks if they are to keep the series alive on Saturday, after losing the first Test 17-22 in Durban last weekend.

England flyhalf Toby Flood used self-deprecating humour on Thursday to deflect the pressure of expectation that is on him to spark the tourists’ backline in the second test against South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Flood was on Thursday named as the starting pivot in place of Owen Farrell, who failed to use his backline to any great effect in the first test defeat last weekend in Durban.

“It will be pretty dull, I feel very old these days, it’s a struggle to get out of bed.

“The last time we played here on the highveld, we lost by 50 points in 2007 [55-22 in Pretoria] so anything less than that will be good,” Flood joked.

On a more serious note, the 26-year-old Flood said he would be using both kicking and his distribution skills to try and move the big South African side around the field.

“Going toe-to-toe with the Springboks is very difficult because they are very physical. But my point of view is to try and shift those big guys around and deny them that momentum which they can then expand on.

“The altitude will hurt us a bit, so we need to be aggressive and pragmatic. You don’t want to waste energy playing in your own half, plus Morne Steyn can kick goals from all sorts of places if you make a mistake.

“We want to manipulate the two Steyns [flyhalf Morne and inside centre Francois] and Jean de Villiers as much as possible. They’ll kick a lot and kick well, they have that ability, plus Pat Lambie and Ruan Pienaar off the bench are great kickers too. We need to nullify it, put as much pressure as we can on their kicking game, but also not narrow our game too much,” Flood told reporters in Johannesburg on Thursday.

“I don’t feel like there’s a heavy load of expectation on me, I’m just going to go out and enjoy myself. I’ll have a crack at some stage …”

Flood, who has not started a game since last year’s World Cup, said there was an exciting new atmosphere in the squad since new coach Stuart Lancaster took over at the start of 2012.

“From the outset, Stuart struck a chord with how he wanted us to go about our business both on and off the field. This is a very united squad and we want to continue to get better,” the Leicester Tigers star said.

Flood said he was excited by the chance to play with two electrifying centres outside him in Manu Tuilagi and Jonathan Joseph, who will make his first test start.

“It was more like a chess game last week, we always felt we were in the match, but suddenly we were chasing it in the last 10 minutes. That meant we were more expansive, and we can take the promise of those last 10 minutes into the second test.

“I can’t let Manu demand the ball every three seconds, but hopefully I can get him into the game more than last week. It’s Jonathan’s first real cap, but he looks sharp and I’ll just be trying to keep things light-hearted and relaxed. He has all the talent in the world, he just mustn’t over-think things,” Flood said.

Tuilagi’s opposite number is one of the bigger units in world backlines in the 1.91m, 100kg Francois Steyn.

“He’s an outstanding player and it’s going to be a huge challenge like last week against Jean de Villiers. He’s one of the best centres in the world,” Tuilagi said.

Tuilagi himself is no shrinking violet though at 112kg, the same weight as South Africa’s loosehead prop Tendai Mtawarira, the famous “Beast”.

The Samoan-born Leicester representative is looking forward to being more of a threat to the South African defences now that he has moved one place inside and is closer to the action.

“I feel comfortable at 12 and I’ve played a couple of times there this season, plus for Leicester against the Springboks in 2009. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting more ball at 12 and also being able to make more tackles,” the pocket battleship grinned.

That November 2009 freezing, damp evening in Leicester is certainly one the Springboks will remember as the Tigers tore into them with great ferocity up front and Tuilagi, then an academy member, announced himself as he bashed through their midfield. The 21-year-old is relishing the chance for a repeat performance.

The need for trophies and the No 1 Test ranking are driving Imran Tahir at the moment – and he’s heading for Johannesburg and Pakistan as a result.

Tahir announced on Wednesday that, tired of being beaten to the floor with the Dolphins, he will be playing his domestic cricket for the bizhub Highveld Lions from next season. The Lions are obviously delighted to have the services of one of the most successful domestic bowlers of recent times on a one-year contract.

“I want to be around more senior players and with a more successful team, I want to win trophies,” Tahir explained at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

“It’s hard when the team just relies on you – I was bowling 70 to 80 overs a game for the Dolphins, which is too much. It’s good when you’re 24 or 25, but I need more support,” the 33-year-old Tahir said.

“There’s a good environment here and players who can help me like Neil McKenzie, who I played with in Hampshire and we got along very well.”

While Tahir’s home for next summer is now sorted out, the legspinner also announced on Wednesday that he will be returning to Pakistan, the country of his birth, for some inspiration ahead of the winter’s major challenge – the three tests in England that will decide the No 1 ranked team.

The source of this hoped-for inspiration will be Pakistan great Abdul Qadir, the leg-spinning legend who performed miraculous deeds against England, taking 82 wickets in 16 tests against them between 1977 and 1987.

Tahir first sat down with Qadir in 2000 and is looking forward to reuniting with someone who has clearly been a role-model, their whirring actions and desire to bowl every variety of delivery being very similar.

“I did have offers from counties and I actually accepted one from Surrey, which I then turned down, because I’ve been working really hard on my fitness and I’m going to back to Pakistan to get some help from Abdul Qadir. I’m kind of a bowler like him and he’s been really helpful to me before, since the first time I met him in 2000.

“He’s a legend and he can help me big time… I just need to get him out on to the cricket ground because it’s 48 degrees outside!” Tahir said of the 56-year-old who took 236 wickets in 67 tests.

“It’s a very big series against England and if we can win it, it would be something special, one of the biggest achievements in my career.”

The weather in England is typically miserable at the moment and if it stays the same through to South Africa’s arrival in July, then Tahir will face an uphill struggle akin to David’s battle with Goliath on green seamers.

“It’s normally drier in July and August and I hope there’s a good summer for us, it will be harder for me if the pitches are like they are now. But the fact that most tests in England are now going into the fourth or fifth day is good for spinners,” Tahir said.

The exuberant leggie from Lahore tends to charge off around the park whenever he takes a wicket and his celebrations have attracted some unkind words from overseas.

“If I’m playing for my country, I try as hard as I can. I make sure I don’t relax because then I might lose concentration and bowl a bad ball. I like to try too hard!

“I just want to enjoy my cricket and the celebrations just come, I go with the flow. Even in club cricket in England I used to do it… I don’t know if I just lose myself,” Tahir said.

Sit back and enjoy the ride, is probably the best advice for anyone watching Tahir in action as he is the type of bowler who likes to attack and he is not scared to show his personality, which adds to the entertainment value of his mystical art.

The England team and their supporters have certainly been puffed up on airs of self-congratulation and pomposity since their ascension to the No 1 ranking, and Tahir has already been written off as a threat, his figures of just 18 wickets at an average of 37.05 in seven tests being used as justification.

Tahir is not one to trash-talk and he refused to counter with England’s miserable record against spin.

“They had one bad series against Pakistan but I would say they are good players of spin. I wouldn’t say they’re not good against it. We have to respect them to beat them and they are a good team, so it will be a good challenge. I’m sure everyone will be up for it because we want to take their place at No 1,” he said.

What critics of Tahir have conveniently overlooked is that those 18 wickets have come in some of the most pace-friendly conditions imaginable as South Africa hosted tests against Australia and Sri Lanka and they then travelled to the verdant pitches of New Zealand.

“There’ve been five tests in South Africa and three in New Zealand, and maybe one of those pitches took spin, so I had to have defensive fields,” Tahir pointed out.

That Tahir is a threat to even the strongest batting line-ups is borne out by comments made by England star Kevin Pietersen in late 2010 when they played together in the Dolphins team.

“He is in a different league. He spins the ball both ways and he’s got incredible control. If you can spin the ball both ways you get wickets.

“He does bowl the odd bad ball, but if managed properly and given lots of confidence, the man can bowl any team out,” Pietersen said.

Tahir is going to England full of hunger – he is definitely making up for lost time after only graduating to test cricket at the age of 32 – and he also has the knowledge of how to prosper there, having enjoyed successful stints with Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hampshire and Warwickshire between 2003 and 2011.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-cricket/news/120516/Tahir_heading_for_Joburg_and_Pakistan