Rhodes to play 'as hard as possible' against Boks

Cape Town - Michael Rhodes says his commitment to the England cause is not in doubt.

The South African-born loose forward was recently included in Eddie Jones' England squad and could make his Test debut against the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday.

Rhodes, 30, left the Stormers for Saracens in 2015 and has since impressed at the English club.

An injury crisis among the England loose trio could see Rhodes start on Saturday and he told The Guardian he’ll be giving it his all.

“I am going to play as hard as possible ... when it comes down to it there should be no doubt where my commitment lies. One or two other guys have done it. I am quite comfortable, it is not something that bothers me. My goal is to win rugby games with England.”

Rhodes did admit that it was never his intention to play for England when he left South Africa.

“I left my international aspirations in South Africa when I left there. I didn’t even know there was a three year qualification period. It wasn’t a case of thinking ‘I want to play for England’ - that was never on the table when I first moved here.”

England will play four matches in the upcoming end-of-year Internationals against South Africa (November 3), New Zealand (November 10), Japan (November 17) and Australia (November 24).

Saturday's match kicks off at 17:00 (SA time).