Wynne Gray: England, not the Boks, now our greatest rugby foes

Eddie Jones has given England real coaching direction. Photo / Graham Wilson

Amongst the verbal jousting as the All Blacks arrived in South Africa for the last Rugby Championship test, Steve Hansen defended his rivals as "one of our greatest foes."

Past tense on the evidence of recent history alongside the 57-0 thumping last month at Albany and the Springboks' inability to do better than twin stalemates against the Wallabies.

All Black duels with the Boks used to be premium viewing, they were the real rugby rival.

Occasionally the Wallabies or Six Nations sides got their plans and players in order and proved to be significant opposition but that always felt more spasmodic than the challenge from South Africa.

They were the hard nuts, men who did not relent and brought their A-game to clashes with the All Blacks.

The dropping value of the rand has helped pare away that competition as players and coaches have left for European financial rewards. Political and social changes have also helped gnaw into the bite from the Boks.

Much was made about coach Allister Coetzee's comments this week when he was asked how his side would respond in Cape Town after being mauled by the All Blacks at Albany.

"We'd be living in a fool's paradise if we thought we could topple them," he said.

Probably bang on but Hansen put it down as reverse psychology from one of the All Blacks' most feared rivals.

We know what you're doing Steve but that's once upon a time fairytale stuff.

The Boks are playing rugby from a different era and if your blokes play anything like a decent game in Cape Town, you will win. Not that you've had a year of excellence but you are still good enough to beat most sides.

Greatest foe though? After my typing fingers shuddered, they slapped England on the page. Who would have thought the over-paid, over-sized, over-hyped mob over there would lead that market?

They do by some distance as Eddie Jones has given them the coaching direction, playing templates and standards which have been a variable commodity in England's game.

They are becoming an all-purpose side capable of top-grade rugby in all conditions against all sorts of teams and tactics, a side who have discovered the width of Twickenham is not solely reserved for the touch lines. When games narrow they've got as much firepower as any for those battlegrounds.

They've also got a few hotheads--not quite in the Ben Stokes class-- who will be given the same sort of warnings Dylan Hartley got when Jones took over. It's a message Hansen needs to reinforce to his squad about yellow cards.

Many have been marginal or careless but losing players will cost them as it did when Sonny Bill Williams was sent off in the second test against the Lions and there was a shift in momentum for the series.

An underlying niggle between Hansen and Jones operates too and that will add to the spice when the sides eventually meet in a tick over a year, at Twickenham, as both eye the remaining surge to the 2019 World Cup.

That's for us to ponder while every All Black eye will be on the task at Newlands and the search for an unblemished tournament mark.