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Brendan Venter's advice for struggling England

Cape Town - Former Springbok defensive consultant Brendan Venter has encouraged England to "go back to basics" in the third Test against the Springboks at Newlands on Saturday.

In a column written for the Rugby Pass website, Venter offered his thoughts on what had been going wrong in Eddie Jones' camp, saying that the team had "completely lost their confidence". 

England have slumped to six straight defeats - one of those was against the Barbarians - and are 2-0 down in their series against the Boks with only Saturday's clash at Newlands to play. 

According to Venter, England have been making basic errors and the time has come for them to take a more conservative approach to get back on the right track.

"England need to simplify what they are doing," Venter wrote.

"I believe they must become more conservative in order to regain their confidence. England have become too expansive in terms of style and they are making so many errors at the moment, as they are a team bereft of confidence."

Venter also called for Jones to play Owen Farrell at flyhalf and not at inside centre. 

"George Ford at flyhalf is not the answer," he wrote.

Venter even put his advice for Jones into golfing terms. 

"England need to use a 3-wood off the tee to get back in play or hit with a hybrid to stay on the fairway," he wrote.

"The bottom line is that England aren't in play at the minute because they're making too many errors," he said.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:05.

READ: Brendan Venter's full column on Rugby Pass

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