Lawrence Dallaglio is talking about rugby matches between England and South Africa and why the Springboks hold an “inherent” advantage.

“I used to get up as England captain and say ‘I’m playing for our country’, and there was no-one more passionate than me on that,” he says.

“But, really, I was playing for about six million people who watch rugby union.

“When Siya Kolisi talks about playing for his country he’s talking about the whole country. That gives South Africa an inherent advantage.”

Patriot Dallaglio

Dallaglio knows all about patriot games. He is fiercely proud to be English. During his time as Wasps captain, the club staged an annual match at Twickenham which they called the St George’s Day Game.

“I want England to win everything – cricket, football, rugby,” he once said. “I’m a patriot, a fan first and foremost.”

So there is no disguising the envy in his voice when he talks about Kolisi, “a player who understands how to unite what they already had, which is a very strong Afrikaans representation and the traditional way of South Africa playing”.

Dallaglio says: “When he gets up and talks about playing for a nation he’s able to unite everyone in that country. That becomes a very powerful narrative.

“If you’d told me 30 years ago a player like Kolisi would be captain of South Africa I’d not have believed it. I made my England debut in 1995 when Chester Williams scored two tries and was the only man of colour in the team.

“They’ve been through their problems with integration, particularly in rugby, but they’re such a powerful force now. They have earned the right and deserve to be called the best side in the world.”

Dallaglio remembers when that was emphatically not the case, when the Springboks came to Twickenham and were hammered by seven tries to nil in what turned into one of the dirtiest games ever played on the old cabbage patch.

“They were wounded back then,” he recalls of the 2002 clash which brought a record 53-3 win for an England side bound for World Cup glory the following year.

“I remember we pushed them over the line to take the score past 50 and I dotted down. I also remember Martin Johnson walking back with [referee] Paddy O’Brien and asking ‘how long’s left?’

“Paddy replied ‘four minutes’ and Johnno said, ‘nothing good’s going to happen in the next four minutes, I suggest you blow up now’. And he did.

“As we walked off the pitch the Springbok players said ‘see you in Perth’ [where the sides were next due to meet at the 2003 World Cup]. At the reception, in the Spirit of Rugby, they said it again.”

How to make the Springboks vulnerable

Dallaglio adds: “They used to be a very one-dimensional side, in my opinion. They’d try to bully you and physically intimidate you and if that didn’t work they’d try harder.

“Bill Treadwell, who played hooker for England in his day, later became the team dentist and the man who for many years stitched us up. He would order more supplies for England-South Africa than any other fixture.

“On the one hand that hasn’t changed. They still tackle harder than anyone across the group. You have to stand up to that physical challenge and take it away from them.

“Do that and you put questions in their mind and, like any side in international rugby, they then become vulnerable. But you have to do it for the full 80 minutes.

“To beat the best in the world you can’t do it for the 70 minutes we did against New Zealand, nor even the 79 against Australia. Not good enough. You’ve got to do it for 80.”

England have not won at home since March, they have lost five of their last six matches, albeit each by a single score, and have dropped to seventh in the world rankings.

It is hard to imagine the recurring nightmare of letting multiple wins slip through their hands at the death has not built up mental scar tissue. So what does Dallaglio suggest they do about it?

“Be two scores ahead and don’t have too many scrums in the last quarter,” says the former England captain, who will work as a pundit for Premier Sports this season.

“Against the Boks you have to take their strength away from them. You have to keep the ball on the field.

“Easier said than done because while they can go toe to toe with you physically their game has broadened a lot in the last few years. They have very good flair players and a lot more creativity than people give them credit for.

“Above all, they are a team which understands that international rugby is won in fine margins and small moments. Their World Cup run proved that. They won every knock-out game by a point. That’s not a coincidence.”

George Martin key for England

With Ollie Chessum out injured, Dallaglio says England need George Martin to reprise his Herculean World Cup semi-final performance to stand a chance of reversing that result.

“George is a throwback, a big man who is physical enough to mount a challenge,” he says. “We saw that in how he played against them last time and also against Ireland in the Six Nations.

“That day the ferocity and intensity of England’s game, particularly up front at the breakdown, was at a level I’d not seen from a Steve Borthwick-coached side.

“That is the level they will need to be at on Saturday and it is in their locker to do that. But they’ve got to keep their discipline.

“You‘ve got to be so precise now with the way you clear out, on both sides of the ball and clearing out people the size of South African rugby players is very difficult.

“Once they get over the ball you need a cannon!”

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