Cape Town - While Bok coach Allister Coetzee has the Rugby Championship to worry about, England coach Eddie Jones has already set his sights on toppling his former coaching colleague in November.
Jones and Coetzee were both coaching assistants to Jake White in the management team that helped lead the Springboks to 2007 Rugby World Cup glory in France.
Now at the helm of the well-heeled England national rugby team, Jones has grown from strength to strength and mastered the mental aspect of the game.
All the while through the mid-year Test series against Australia, Jones played mind games with, and bested, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and coached his team to a resounding series victory in which the hapless Wallabies were completely shut out.
Now, as Jones assembles his provisional 45-man England Elite Player Squad, he has already singled South Africa out as his next big scalp, when the teams face each other in November.
Jones was the mastermind behind Japan's shock victory over the Springboks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England - the biggest upset of the tournament - and this time, he has much more resources at his disposal.
Past results in clashes between SA and England favour the Boks. But history also favoured the Boks against Japan.
“England has not beaten South Africa since 2006 and we've lost our last five games against the Springboks at Twickenham,” said Jones.
“Not a single player who will attend the pre-season camp has played in a side that has ever beaten South Africa.”
Preparation is key though, and Jones is making sure his charges are as well equipped as possible to face the Springboks on the end-of-year tour.
“This camp sets the scene for November. It's important to catch up with the players prior to the start of the season and continue to put our plans in place.”
With his RWC success against South Africa as the head coach of Japan, a Six Nations Grand Slam and the 3-0 series whitewash over the Wallabies, Jones is well appointed to produce the goods.
Jones has also made it known that he wants to supplant New Zealand as the number one Test nation in World Rugby's rankings, and the Springboks are a stepping stone in that direction.
England (89.49 points) are currently in second position behind New Zealand (96.10 points), while South Africa (86.32 points) round out the top three in the latest rankings.
“The long-term strategy for England is to develop a side who can be the most dominant team in world rugby,” said Jones. “We've chosen a number of new faces to attend this camp on the form they have shown recently or the potential we see in them.”
Jones has replaced established players such as Danny Cipriani and Chris Ashton in the training camp in favour of younger players who have shown promise, among them England Under-20 stars Will Evans and Joe Marchant.
“While we acknowledge that we're moving in the right direction we also recognise that defeat is never far away,” he said. “It's important the players all keep trying to improve and push themselves to reach new standards in their game. We cannot afford to have any complacency in our approach to this Test.”
In addition to the Springboks, England will also face Fiji, Argentina, and Australia during the end of year Test window. - African News Agency (ANA)