England's George ready for 'brutal' showdown with Boks

Jamie George and his England side are bracing themselves for sporting "war" against South Africa as they look to harness the strength they draw from being underdogs at Twickenham.

The rivals clash on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in a grudge rematch of the 2023 World Cup semi-final, with Steve Borthwick's men out to salvage a miserable November marred by narrow losses to New Zealand and Australia.

Victory over the all-conquering back-to-back world champions would ease the pressure that has built on Borthwick during a four-game losing run - and George has laid out what it will take to deliver the result.

"Whenever you step on to the field for England in a Test you know you are in for a war, you know you are in for a battle, you know it is going to be brutal at times," the England captain said.

"But the sort of team we want to be, the expectation we have, is that we run and we run hard.

"Our rivalry with South Africa is historic. There is always going to be an edge whenever we play them. It's a physical game, a confrontational game.

"Their style of play is very at-you and direct and that's the sort of game we like, the sort of game we enjoy."

England have developed the habit of delivering some of their best performances when their backs are against the wall, with this year's 23-22 victory over Ireland a classic example.

"Historically, we've been a team that reacts very well off the back of a poor performance. And that's what our game against Australia was, if we're completely honest," George said.

"The team can take confidence from the fact that we've got clarity around what we did wrong against Australia, but more importantly - why."

George also sees value in revisiting the confrontational approach that troubled the Springboks in Paris 12 months ago.

"They seemed shocked by our physicality and our approach to the game so there's going to be a blueprint there in terms of our knowledge of how to rattle South Africa," he said.

"But we are a different team to then. We have evolved, they have evolved. They have a different coaching team, so have we. That's going to be a really interesting part around who wins the game."

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi says the rivalry is "personal" between the two teams, who met in the 2019 World Cup final and 2023 semi-final with the Springboks winning both.

"We know what they have been going through," he said. "We have been in this position before. For us to not be prepared for a game like this, we would not be learning from our own journey."