England head coach Borthwick has made four changes from the side beaten by Australia in their last outing, including the reintroduction of full-back Freddie Steward and scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet.

George says both players are “frothing” at the prospect of facing South Africa.

“They are ready to take their opportunity because of all the work they have put in off the field,” he added.

“They have trained brilliantly and the nice thing is they are not coming in with one or two caps. They have played at international level and they are frothing at the bit to get involved.

“Whenever that ball goes in the air, the expectation is to catch the ball. Freddie [Steward] retrieves more ball for us than anyone and he is excellent in that area.

“The South African gameplan lends itself to putting the ball in the air a bit more, but there is no better man to have back there.”

England have not won at home since March when they beat Ireland in the Six Nations and George says the hosts need a result to match their performances.

“We always feel pressure to win,” said the 34-year-old.

“We know that the fans want a win and we want to bring that for them. They have been brilliant and we have spoken a lot about this connection with the fans, but I’m aware the performance only goes so far and we need to bring the result.

“I want the Allianz to believe we can win because we believe we can win.”

On the day he debuted in the UFC, Bo Nickal was already one of the most accomplished wrestlers to set foot in the octagon as a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion and he’d like to see more of those athletes join him in the sport.

Ahead of his return at UFC 309, Nickal revealed his hopes that more high-level wrestlers start making the transition to fighting like 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, who became a primary training partner for Jon Jones as he prepared for his fight against Stipe Miocic on Saturday.

“I would love that,” Nickal said during UFC 309 media day. “I would love to see as many high-level wrestlers as possible transition over to MMA. I think that the last decade or so, we really haven’t had the best collegiate wrestlers move into MMA. You have guys that have had success but we haven’t had the best of the best.

“So guys like Gable Steveson, it would amazing to see him transition over. I think that American collegiate style wrestling would take over the sport in short order.”

In addition to his comments about wrestlers making the move to MMA, Nickal also addressed his long layoff between fights and why he was OK with taking time off between his appearance at UFC 300 and returning at UFC 309 where he faces Paul Craig. Nickal also discussed Khamzat Chimaev’s recent win over Robert Whittaker and how far he has to go before he could potentially face the Chechen mauler.

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ENGLAND fans were hit by lasers during their clash with Greece.

The Three Lions were treated with a hostile atmosphere in Athens as they looked to secure a win to keep alive their hopes of winning their Nations League group.

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Lee Carlsey’s side got off to a quick start as Jude Bellingham linked with Noni Madueke who slid across for Ollie Watkins to score.

But moments later Bellingham and the rest of his team-mates were targeted by lasers pointed from the stands.

Bellingham and Pickford were hit in the face by the green lights, which plagued England throughout the first half.

It comes after Chelsea players also had to combat lasers in a recent trip to Greek side Panathinaikos.

Christopher Nkunku was blasted by the same green light as he stepped up to take a penalty in the Europa Conference League clash, which he scored.

England fans slammed the behaviour of those inside the stadium and condemned the use of lasers.

One fan said: “See laser pens are alive and well in Greece 🤦‍♂️”

Another added: “Some t*** with a laser at the England game. I hope they stand on Lego.”

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A third wrote: “It could blind someone.”

And another commented: “Imagine being stupid enough to take a laser pen to a football match. They’ve had long enough now to find the person doing it.”

NEW YORK – Michael Chandler won’t set sights on a potential rematch with Dustin Poirier.

Chandler’s most recent outing came in a submission loss to Poirier in at UFC 281 in November 2022. Poirier was unhappy with Chandler’s antics during the fight and accused him of being a dirty competitor.

Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) has hinted at one last fight before retirement, but Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) doesn’t see “The Diamond” risking a potential loss.

“Yeah, I mean, not really,” Chandler told reporters on fighting Poirier during Wednesday’s UFC 309 media day. “I mean, Dustin’s got a win over me. He’s never going to take the chance in one of his last couple of fights to put that on the line and lose to me and have that stain on him the rest of his life. So, I know that for sure.

Chandler runs things back with Charles Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) in a co-main event Saturday UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) at Madison Square Garden in New York.

He has bigger plans than trying to avenge his loss against Poirier.

“I’m not really worried about it,” Chandler continued. “I will be ranked ahead of him Saturday night at midnight when I beat Charles Oliveira. We’ve got other options: Max for the BMF belt, Islam for the title obviously. You’ve still got the Conor fight, still got ‘TUF 31,’ finishing that which needs to be finished.

“We had a contract signed. There’s a lot of options for me, and I don’t think he’s necessarily one of them at all. Maybe someday we’ll squash the beef, probably not. I think we will at some point. Right now, we’re just two dudes in the same division looking towards the same thing.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

A new competition for jump jockeys with £500,000 for the winner will launch on Friday.

The David Power Jockeys’ Cup will have a prize fund of £1.5m and gets under way with a three-day meeting at Cheltenham from 15-17 November, and runs until the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April.

Jockeys will earn points in any race televised on ITV Racing with 10 points awarded for a win, eight for second, six for third and four for fourth.

The jockey who collects the most points will be crowned the winner and scoop the top cash prize, while second place collects £200,000 with £100,000 on offer for third spot, plus awards all the way down to 10th place.

Harry Cobden, the current champion jump jockey, is among those who are set to take part along with Harry Skelton, Nico de Boinville and Rachael Blackmore.

Cobden said: “It’s a huge amount on offer and I’m sure will create some great competition as we’ll all be trying to win as many of those ITV races as we can.”

Skelton added that the cup will be the “pinnacle in the sport” for jockeys in National Hunt racing, with a “a transformative amount of money” on offer.

Blackmore, who is currently injured, said the competition “adds a massive layer of excitement” to what “already promises to be another highly competitive season”.

“It’s great to see this level of innovation and investment in racing, particularly towards jockeys,” said Blackmore, who won the Grand National in 2021 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2022.

“The prizes on offer are incredible. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase the very best of the sport.”

The competition is named after the co-founder of bookmakers Paddy Power, whose parent company Flutter are backing the competition, along with the Jockey Club, Great British Racing and the Professional Jockeys’ Association.

Trainers, racing staff and the two leading conditional jockeys will also have the chance to win prizes.