Jake White's battle-hardened armour began to show a few cracks yesterday when the South Africa coach bowed to the fans of Kabamba Floors - and possibly his own critics as well - by selecting the 5ft 9in flanker to make his debut against England on Saturday.

So far no one under 6ft 5in has played in the Springbok back row on this autumn tour and Floors was originally overlooked despite being named man of the tournament in the recent Currie Cup. He was due to captain South Africa's sevens side but flew into London on Monday to replace Pierre Spies, who returned home, with the No8 Jacques Cronje and fly-half Butch James, after being injured in the first game against England last Saturday.

White does not like what the South Africans call "fetchers" and has rarely stepped outside his policy of picking big men, frequently out of position. But yesterday he admitted he might have been mistaken in not selecting Floors, whose style of play is reminiscent of the England coach Andy Robinson in the late Eighties.

Asked why Floors had not been part of what is largely an experimental squad, White said: "It's never cast in stone. I've had a view on him but I think he can add something extra to what we saw last Saturday.

"Not every decision I've made has been correct," he added, after defeats against Ireland and England and calls in South Africa for his head. "He [Floors] has played really well in the Currie Cup and I'm quite excited to see how he does. As an open-side he's really quick so it will be nice to see how effective he is getting off the back of lineout and scrum."

Floors, aged 26, is one of four changes. Juan Smith, if fit, will return at blindside flanker, with Danie Rossouw moving to No8. If Smith does not play, Gerrie Britz will come in on the flank and Floors will start at No8.

The backline shows only one change, Andre Pretorius at fly-half for the injured James, a conservative ending to the debate over whether the 19-year-old Francois Steyn would move to his usual position. Steyn made his Test debut two weeks ago on the left wing against Ireland - scoring one try and making another - before moving to full-back last Saturday. When James flew home, the fly-half position was seen as a head-to-head contest between Steyn and Pretorius, which the more experienced player has now won, even after a poor performance coping with a gale at Lansdowne Road.

"Andre played really well in the Tri- Nations but he didn't have one of his best Test matches against Ireland in those difficult conditions," said White. "He has 23 Test caps as a Springbok and we have put a lot of faith in him over the past couple of years. Now we need to see him go up a level if he's going to play in the World Cup."

Something similar could be said of White himself. South Africa have lost their past seven matches against England and are trying to end a run of six away defeats. He selected his squad for the three-game tour after a "brainstorming session" with the great and good of South African rugby - including some of the eight national coaches sacked in the past 11 years - and had it agreed by the president of the South African union and his review committee. However, as one source close to the team said yesterday: "That may be right, but they didn't give him permission to lose three games on the trot."

South Africa: Steyn; Ndungane, Olivier, De Villiers, Habana; Pretorius, Januarie; Van der Linde, Smit (capt), Botha, Ackermann, Muller, Floors, Smith, Rossouw. Replacements Ralepelle, Carstens, Van den Berg, Britz, Pienaar, Pietersen, Fortuin.