Johannesburg — WESTERN Province and former Springbok backline coach Allister Coetzee believes the Springboks have the players and skill to beat England at Twickenham on Saturday, despite the team's substandard performance in their first two tour games.

The Springboks only managed narrow victories against Wales and Scotland in the past two weeks, but England are expected to pose a much greater challenge this weekend.

Reports from the Bok camp have quoted Springbok coach Peter de Villiers saying his players are suffering from fatigue after a physically draining year of rugby, and that it could be difficult to motivate them for Saturday's clash. "Sometimes it's very, very difficult to motivate yourself to stand up and just go on and on and on ... there's a mental fatigue that nobody sees," he said on Monday.

But lock Victor Matfield said yesterday that fatigue would not be a factor this weekend. "The end of tours are never easy," he said.

"But it's a great challenge for us against England on Saturday, so I believe the guys will definitely be mentally right there, 100%."

History favours the home team to take the honours, as the Springbok have won only one of their past seven games at Twickenham. Their last victory there was in 2006, when they won 25-14.

But Coetzee, who has worked with most of the national players during his four-year reign as Bok backline coach under former coach Jake White -- and this year as the Western Province coach -- says the players have what it takes to return home unbeaten.

"The Springboks can most definitely beat England," said Coetzee. "We have the right team and skill to achieve this.

"Most of these players have walked passed the boards posting the previous Test results next to the change rooms for years, and they know how it feels to have played and won there.

"The team has not played to its potential on tour. But these guys know what they have to do this weekend, and if they enter the game with the right attitude, they can do well."

Coetzee also said the absence of injured hooker Bismarck du Plessis (hamstring) and replacement prop Gurthro Steenkamp (ankle), would not weaken the team. Both players were ruled out after suffering injuries in the clash against Scotland. "Having a front row of John Smit (Bok captain) at hooker and props like Beast (Tendai Mtawarira), Brian Mujati and Jannie du Plessis to choose from is nothing new," said Coetzee. "John and Jannie have played a Rugby World Cup, and Brian has been part of the group all year, so they are capable replacements.

"Even without Bismarck and Gurthro, we will have an experienced front row."

With the uncertainty about scrumhalf Fourie du Preez's availability because of the quadriceps injury he suffered last Thursday, and Jannie du Plessis training with the team for the first time yesterday, De Villiers postponed the announcement of his match 22 until tomorrow.

The decision about whether to select Du Plessis or Mujati at tighthead, in particular, could create headaches for the coach, especially after the scrums turned shabby when Mujati took over from Smit in the position last weekend.

n England manager Martin Johnson yesterday resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes to the team that suffered a 28-14 defeat against Australia last week, despite being outplayed up front.

He made only one change, with physical flank James Haskell replacing Tom Croft.

Haskell made a good impact as a replacement in the past two games, and his bulk appears to have given him the edge over Croft. The other change was on the bench, where uncapped flank Jordan Crane replaces Michael Lipman. "We want to get some consistency into this team, and where we made mistakes, we want to spend this week trying to correct them," Johnson said.

With Sapa-AFP

ENGLAND TEAM:

Delon Armitage, Paul Sackey, Jamie Noon, Riki Flutey, Ugo Monye, Danny Cipriani, Danny Care, Nick Easter, Tom Rees, James Haskell, Tom Palmer, Steve Borthwick (capt), Phil Vickery, Lee Mears, Andrew Sheridan.

Reserves: Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens, Simon Shaw, Tom Croft, Jordan Crane, Harry Ellis, Toby Flood.