South Africa coach Johann van Graan praises Graham Rowntree

South Africa forwards coach Johann van Graan has described England counterpart Graham Rowntree as "one of the best forwards coaches in the world".

Speaking ahead of the clash between the Springboks and England at Twickenham on Saturday van Graan hailed Rowntree for creating a "world-class scrum" while also calling on his side to sharpen up following their 29-15 defeat in Ireland.

"Graham Rowntree is in my opinion one of the best forwards coaches in the world and a good friend of mine," said Van Graan, who doubles as South Africa's attack coordinator.

"The great thing about rugby is the friends you make.

"We coached against each other for the first time in 2012, what a great guy and what a great coaching staff.

"Just look at guys like Stuart Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt; Heyneke and I have visited the northern hemisphere quite a few times in the last year, we've had a few coffees together.

Graham Rowntree is in my opinion one of the best forwards coaches in the world.

"And like we did with the All Blacks a few weeks ago I'm sure we're going to have a drink before and after the game, talk about their challenges, our challenges, where the game is going, what you think.

"At the end of the day we're much bigger than just ourselves and just this Test match, it's about the game, and what a fantastic coaching group they have, and they are good friends of ours."

Van Graan believes former Leicester and England prop Rowntree has built a pack that is now the envy of the world under head coach Lancaster.

"You've just got to look at the way their forwards conduct themselves on and off the field, the way they prepare, they are always well-prepared at lineout time in attack and defence," said Van Graan.

"They have a pretty solid maul.

"They put us under pressure in South Africa two years ago; we played them four times that year.

"It's a world-class scrum and a world-class plan.

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"Whenever we come up against them we know it's a challenge."

Van Graan refused to criticise Springboks' half-back duo of Handre Pollard and Francois Hougaard for Saturday's defeat to Ireland in Dublin.

"It would be unfair from my side to single out individuals, as a team we made some errors in Ireland that we've now got to fix," he said.

"It starts with the carry and the presentation, and sometimes the half-back gets the criticism when the presentation's not up to scratch.

"There were some individual errors by players but we'll take responsibility as a team and we've got to fix it."

Bulls coach Van Graan has already singled out Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care as one of England's biggest threats on Saturday.

He added: "Twickenham is a place we love to play and this is a Test against a team we really respect.

"We're facing world-class players; we've a lot of respect for Danny Care.

"I don't think they'll pay too much attention to what Ireland did, they will just focus on their game."

England v South Africa is live on Sky Sports 1 on Saturday from 2pm