De Villiers wary of 'evolved' England
The Springboks are wary of a much improved England and know their unbeaten run against the Red Rose would count for nothing come Saturday's clash at Twickenham.
The Springboks are unbeaten in their last 11 Tests against England, a run dating back to 2006 and the last four of those internationals have yielded three wins and a draw since 2012.
Last month, South Africa captain Jean de Villiers and his team upset the formbook by ending New Zealand's 22-match unbeaten run and the centre said it meant South Africa would not be taking England lightly this weekend.
"A big part of our group never experienced beating the All Blacks and we managed to do that earlier this year.
"It's the old thing about records, they're there to be broken. We certainly don't want them [England] to do that.
"It's probably the team that's evolved the most and improved the most. You look back at that year [2012] and the four games we played each other, there's not much between the two teams.
"They're a different beast now in 2014," de Villiers said.
South Africa have no difficulty in getting motivated for a match against England and will have a special incentive on Saturday following last weekend's surprising 15-29 loss to Ireland in Dublin.
"Rugby was born here. As South Africans you grow up wanting to play New Zealand and playing against England is not far behind that," he added.
England have beaten the three southern hemisphere giants of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia just twice in 12 Tests under Stuart Lancaster, raising questions as to whether the 2015 World Cup hosts are really serious contenders to lift the trophy next year.
"It looks like a happy team, so I can call that an improvement within their squad. Once you can create a good culture to work within, and have guys happy within that culture, then results will come eventually.
"It takes time, it's not something that happens overnight. The unfortunate thing for them is that the other teams are on that same mission. We're trying to achieve the same thing. You'll be on the losing side at stages, but you'll be on the winning side at times as well.
"I don't want to give them reasons to improve on, I can assure you of that, but from the outside looking in, it seems like a team that's definitely getting there and we're very aware of that," he stated.
Source: AFP
