In the long history of meetings between England and South Africa, the Springboks have seldom approached Twickenham with quite such a sense of foreboding as they do today. Partly it is a consequence of the mood back home - "The rand's worth nothing, every one's getting raped and murdered", as one Cape Town radio host put it gloomily yesterday - but also because of the glint in English eyes all week.

Yesterday Clive Woodward could scarcely contain himself. "This is the game which makes the whole team, and especially me, tick because it's against these blokes you get measured," said the England coach.

An English win would be their fifth in succession over Southern Hemisphere opponents. Therein lies the savage beauty of today's collision with a beastly looking South African pack. But this is an occasion to savour as England attempt to become the first European nation to beat the Springboks three times in a row.

First and foremost, there will be the power struggle among the forwards and the prospect of an epic physical confrontation. "You just look at the teams and think it's a great match-up," says Woodward. "The scrum and lineout is going to be an awesome battle. You've got some seriously powerful people on both teams. That's a big old pack they've picked and we're pretty sure they're going to go Route One. If they don't, we've got a good enough team to compete generally. They are the most physically challenging team in the world, but England have moved into that league now."

Yet if England are the side they think they are, seeing off Ollie le Roux and company is only part of it. Better still would be if they can somehow reproduce the clinical first-half performance that helped see off Australia 21-15 a fortnight ago.

"I'm looking for a better performance than against Australia. It would be nice to score some tries," Woodward admitted, doing a shy little u-turn after his post-Wallaby match rant when someone suggested much the same.

Springbok captain Bobby Skinstad, prevented from injury from playing against England for the past two years, feels his team will not make as many open-field errors as they did in losing 20-10 to France in Paris this month, but England now fervently believe, that the force is with them at Twickenham regardless of whom they are playing.

Take Graham Rowntree, recalled at loose-head prop, who can hardly believe the improvement since he was last involved during the 1999 World Cup. "Coming back into the squad this season, after almost two years out, I was so impressed by the skill level. I'd obviously played against the likes of Jason Robinson and Iain Balshaw but I'd not been in the same environment. There's a lot been said about the squad being more professional but that means a lot more than being paid to do your job. It's about attitude."

Coming from Leicester, Rowntree is better qualified on that subject than most, and here too England gain his top marks.

But there is an ingrained suspicion when opponents start flinging compliments in the week leading up to a Test match, as the Springbok management have been. "It amazes me how the likes of Australia and South Africa think we're stupid," Rowntree added. "They just say things like that to make us overconfident."

Springbok coach Harry Viljoen, in need of a good performance from his side, believes one of the reasons his men have struggled recently is because defences in Currie Cup rugby have proved to be so inferior to overseas systems.

Against England in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final in Paris, Jannie de Beer short-circuited similar alarms among Springbok supporters with five drop goals in a 44-21 win but even allowing for the size of South Africa's pack, a similar margin of victory is within England's compass this time.

ENGLAND: J Robinson (Sale); A Healey (Leicester), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Catt (Bath), D Luger (do); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), K Bracken (Saracens); G Rowntree (Leicester), D West (Leicester), P Vickery (Gloucester), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), D Grewcock (Bath), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps). Replacements: M Regan (Bath), J Leonard (Harlequins), B Kay (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester), C Hodgson (Sale), M Tindall (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton)

SOUTH AFRICA: C Jantjes; B Paulse, T Halstead, B van Straaten, D Hall; L Koen, J van der Westhuizen; O le Roux, J Smit, W Meyer, V Matfield, M Andrews, A Vos, AJ Venter, B Skinstad (capt)). Replacements: L van Biljoen, C Visagie, C Krige, A Venter, D de Kock, A Snyman, P Montgomery.

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia)