Tall order for England
England have lost their last seven matches against the Springboks, and their coach Stuart Lancaster knows that it will be particularly tough to break that streak in South Africa.
Lancaster is acutely aware of how tough it has been for teams from the northern hemisphere to notch away victories over their southern rivals and said that he expects his team to raise the intensity in order to be competitive.
"I think where the northern hemisphere teams have struggled in the past was in coming to the southern hemisphere and competing.
"The southern hemisphere clearly hold the edge when they have a home series, so we expect a significant step-up in intensity and we want to make sure we're ready to match them," he said.
The England boss said that in his opinion touring South Africa is one of the toughest tasks in world rugby.
"We consider this one of the toughest tours to undertake in world rugby, to come to South Africa and play three Test matches, we're excited about the challenge, but also respectful of the challenge.
"South Africa did well in the World Cup, even though they didn't quite get to the final stages. But with a new coaching team and new momentum behind them, it's going to be tough," said Lancaster.
Despite the size of the challenge Lancaster is fairly confident as there is a good competitive spirit in his squad.
"When you've got competition for places that's what the critical thing is. You know there's a real energy and buzz.
"We've got some difficult selections to make over the weekend and as we build into next week, because we've got a lot of good players fit and in form," he said.
Heyneke Meyer's men are not yet in camp for the series, but will gather in Durban on Sunday following the Super Rugby matches to be played over this weekend and Lancaster admitted that he will be watching the two South African derbies on Saturday with interest.
"There's some big games this weekend, we'll obviously be watching them closely. But beyond that, I'm sure they'll be extremely motivated going into the Durban Test," he said.
England have lost Joe Launchbury to a knee injury and the Wasps lock has been replaced by uncapped London Irish flank Jamie Gibson.
"Joe got a knock in training before we left England and we had him assessed here and he is not going to be able to continue the tour," said Lancaster.
Samoa-born back Manu Tuilagi sat out the first training session of the tour with a foot injury, but the coach believes the likely first-choice outside centre will recover.
