Selection "mind games" and pre-Rugby World Cup shadow boxing has both the Wallabies and Springboks camps on edge ahead of their Rugby Championship opener in Pretoria on July 9 (AEST).
One thing that is certain is that world champions South Africa will be without star playmaker Handre Pollard, whose calf injury is likely to rule him out of the entire championship, and inspirational captain Siya Kolisi (knee), who is touch and go for the World Cup in France.
But other than that the Wallabies are uncertain who they will face at Loftus Versfeld as Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed he would name a separate squad to travel to New Zealand at the same time as his Wallabies team announcement next week.
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"We will announce the squad as late as possible because we don't want the opposition to know who they must prepare for," Nienaber said.
Former Wallabies back Morgan Turinui – who will be in Pretoria for Stan Sport – expected the Springboks to deviate from the usual strategy of playing their 'A' team at home.
"The chat out of the media over there at the moment is the inverse and sending the strong team to New Zealand," Turinui said on Between Two Posts.
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"There's never been more media accreditation requests out of the northern hemisphere than for this Test match, out of England, it's a sold out Loftus. You cannot get into the media room – like it's going to be hugely covered, obviously Rassie (Erasmus, South Africa director of rugby) and Eddie and those things."
Erasmus' Springboks beat Jones' England in the 2019 World Cup final.
And Jones was a "specialist" coach for the South Africa team that beat England in the 2007 World Cup final.
"He knows South Africans very well and he's worked so widely around the world to broaden his coaching vision," Erasmus said.
"I always feel that a South African working with South Africans will get the best out of South Africans and I think an Australian working with Australians will get the best out of them… Eddie knows the Aussie setup. He has been there. The interesting thing would be as to where his assistants worked because they'll bring in different flavours to the party."
Erasmus had already taken note of Jones' emphasis on size and power.
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"Some of those centres and wingers that they have are bigger than flankers," he said.
"Eddie always plays one or two mind games because he's the kind of guy who can do stuff like that. I think he's got some rugby league guys in as well and he's got a massive coaching staff, but because of his experience, he can get people aligned in a short space of time. He is the kind of guy who is not afraid of doing things like that."
Jones raised eyebrows by naming a massive "train on squad" separate to his Wallabies squad – along with a rehab group and three "utility" players.
"It's tough to prepare to face Australia because we're not sure if they'll play with an Eddie Jones or Dave Rennie mindset, so the key for us is to focus on ourselves," Nienaber said.
"We have to be able to adapt to whatever they throw at us on the day. I'm not entirely sure how they are working with their squads. I've seen they have two squads with different names, and that one squad will face us and the other remain behind."
The Wallabies have been quietly going about their business on the Gold Coast this week before flying to South Africa.
Halfback Nic White said it had been a fascinating experience in camp with Jones.
"You hear the stories of Eddie and plenty of past players have been on podcasts and media and things and you hear about it and you get a bit nervous and then the cattle prod does come out at times. He also cares a lot," White said.
"He's so unbelievably motivated. Like every day he's coming in and everything is about a winning mindset and getting better and it's infectious. It really is."
The Wallabies have never beaten the Springboks in Pretoria and White was expecting a "hostile" crowd and a fierce examination, no matter which players were picked.
The element of mystery has been exacerbated by South African teams no longer featuring in Super Rugby.
"They're (Pollard and Kolisi) world class players, right? But I think they're going to have guys that come in and they always do that will lift and take those opportunities as well," White said.
"But obviously they're world class players that they will miss. Siya, being at the front for quite a while now as their captain.
"Pollard's been playing some really good footy for those who have been watching Leicester.
"They'll have guys that come in and they've certainly got an identity around the way they play, South Africa, that guys will come in and know exactly what's expected of them."
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