South Africa v England: Springboks dump Handre Pollard, Francois Hougaard The last time the Wallabies were in France they were handed a 27 point hiding by Les Bleus, this time they're trying to keep alive hopes of a European grand slam. Handre Pollard has been dropped to the bench for South Africa's clash with England. South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has made five changes in his team to play England at Twickenham as the Springboks looked to bounce back from their tour-opening defeat by Ireland. Significantly, halfback Cobus Reinach and No. 10 Pat Lambie - who both came off the bench in the 29-15 loss to Ireland in Dublin last weekend - were included in the starting XV. They replace Francois Hougaard and flyhalf Handre Pollard, the men they came on for at Lansdowne Road, who have been named on the bench. Other changes saw World Cup-winners JP Pietersen and Schalk Burger brought in at right wing and openside flanker respectively, with Adriaan Strauss taking over at hooker from Bismarck du Plessis. Strauss, Lambie and Pietersen all started in South Africa" s last Test at Twickenham, two years ago, which the Springboks won 16-15, while the weekend's match will be Reinach's first in the starting team. Pat Lambie takes over at No. 10 from Handre Pollard. The five changes to the team are straight swaps between the starting line-up and the bench in Dublin. Meyer insisted the alterations he'd made were not a knee-jerk reaction to the defeat in Dublin but in line with the kind of squad rotation he'd envisaged before the tour began. "Pat started at Twickenham for us two years ago and did very well," Meyer said. He's playing well at the moment and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start. Pat is tactically very astute and even though he's still pretty young, he's got a lot of experience. Cobus Reinach will start for South Africa for the first time. Meyer added: "Adriaan, Schalk and JP have all started a number of Tests this year and they will slot in easily - we decided beforehand that we wanted to start all of these players in one of the first two Tests on tour." As for his new scrum-half, Meyer said: "It's a big occasion for Cobus but he would not have been here if we didn't believe he could deliver the goods, and he'll be next to his provincial teammate in Pat. "As usual, we're also expecting our replacements to raise the intensity when they're sent on and Bismarck, who had a very good game in Dublin especially in the set-pieces, "Oupa" (Mohoje), Francois, Cornal and Handre will provide important cover off the bench. "Our performance against Ireland last weekend was not up to scratch and everyone in the touring squad has put up their hands and dug deep this week," said Meyer. We've really worked hard at fixing the mistakes we made and the challenge is now to put that into action on Saturday. South Africa haven't been beaten by England in their last 11 Tests and remain the only major side Red Rose coach Stuart Lancaster has yet to defeat since taking charge in 2012, although the teams did play out a 14-14 draw in Port Elizabeth two years ago. England, who launched their November program with a 24-21 loss to world champions New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday, were due to name their team on Thursday. South Africa (15-1): Willie le Roux; JP Pietersen, Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers (capt), Bryan Habana; Pat Lambie, Cobus Reinach; Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Marcell Coetzee; Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth; Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira Replacements: Bismarck du Plessis, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Bakkies Botha, Teboho Mohoje, Francois Hougaard, Handre Pollard, Cornal Hendricks