South Africa have sought to keep their foot on England’s throat by claiming that Eddie Jones‘ team struggles in the absence of Billy Vunipola.

Vunipola has returned home after re-fracturing the arm that was broken in January and faces another extended spell on the sidelines, the latest setback in an injury-blighted 18 months.

England have already surrendered the series 2-0 ahead of the final Test staged in Cape Town on Saturday – and Springboks number eight Duane Vermeulen insists they are not the same side without their wrecking ball number eight.

“I saw Billy go down and thought it was his shoulder at first,” said Vermeulen, who was named man of the match in South Africa’s 23-12 victory in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

“He’s definitely England’s go-forward guy and without him, from what I saw in the Six Nations they struggled. They need that guy.

“Hopefully Nathan Hughes can step up and make it his own. Billy is a big loss.”

South Africa boss Rassie Erasmus has indicated he will experiment for the final encounter but Vermeulen insists that whoever is picked the aim is to inflict a sixth successive defeat on England.

“We don’t know what team Rassie will pick, but if we can win 3-0 then we want to do that. We would like to go for the three-match clincher,” he said.

“England aren’t far off. Maybe with one or two tweaks they will bounce back. They are still one of the best teams in the world. You have to respect them.

“They are going through a tough patch but all teams go through it. I know they will bounce back.”