LONDON – England's rugby attack consultant, Scott Wisemantel, says that working again with coach Eddie Jones persuaded him to join the South African tour which starts when the team arrives in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Australian has joined Jones's backroom staff for the three-Test tour. The 48-year-old has previously worked with Jones when he was in charge of Australia and also during the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Japan.
Asked about how the move to working with England came about, Wisemantel said: “It was adding a bit of detail around the attack and adding some new and fresh ideas.
“That’s how the conversation started and then Eddie said would I like to come up to England for five weeks, do the tour to South Africa and probably his biggest selling point was that England have never won a series in South Africa - for me that was a bit of a challenge.
“It’s like any team in the world, once you have success with something teams defend it and nullify it and then you have to evolve and that’s part of my role here, to adapt."
Since taking over, Jones has guided England to two unbeaten summer tours in Australia in 2016 and then Argentina last year.
Having known Jones for so long, Wisemantel says he is a big admirer of his methods and the way that their relationship works is one of their key strengths.
“It’s not easy but that’s a real relationship isn’t it?" he added.
“If I disagree then we have the debate and vice-versa and it’s good because it’s good for your growth, for the team’s growth and it challenges everything to make it the best programme it can possibly be.
“It’s a strength of our relationship and it is something I respect him immensely for, the fact that he will pick the eyes out of your programme, and then question why you’re doing things and then vice-versa if I disagree with something we’re trying to do.
“That is one of Eddie’s great strengths that we can have the debate, have the argument and then once it is done, it’s done and we move on."