Eddie Jones says Jonny Wilkinson, his nemesis of four years ago, is “a bit of a worry”, but contends that South Africa have no special plans to neutralise arguably the best No 10 in world rugby.

Jones was in charge of the Australia team in 2003 when they were floored in front of their own fans by a Wilkinson drop goal in the last minute of extra time in the World Cup final.

He was fired as Wallabies coach after a miserable 2005, and accepted an invite from Jake White, the South Africa coach, to be a technical adviser for the Springboks only three months ago.

Jones was branded a traitor in Australia, and South Africa’s administrators wouldn’t let him wear a Springboks team blazer, but now he and White couldn’t be happier with their alliance going into Saturday’s final at Stade de France.

The only member of the South Africa squad paraded in front of the media on Tuesday, it was little surprise that Wilkinson was one of the major topics of conversation.

“Jonny’s still there, so he’s a bit of a worry,” Jones said. "He’s a different sort of player, not as dominant as he was in 2003, but he gives England enormous confidence. You can see guys play better around him when he’s out there because he has won a World Cup, he still kicks reasonably well, he still kicks a field goal here and there, and he’s tough.”

Jones said Wilkinson was also a very good tackler, as he proved against Australia and France, which forced opposition attacks to push wider looking for gaps.

“And we’ve seen in today’s game how hard it is to go wide because the breakdown has become a bit of a lottery,” he said.

Wilkinson wasn’t the focus of the Springboks’ game plan, though. “It’s not about shutting him down,” Jones said, “but about winning the ball up front and for us neutralising their ball, making it slow, and conversely when we’ve got the ball we want to get fast ball and go forward. World Cup finals are won up front.”

Jones was also quick to play down any thoughts of revenge for what happened in 2003.

“England were probably the better side and deserved to win,” he said. “This year South Africa is potentially the best team, and if we play well we’ll get the result we want. Gee, it won’t make up for 2003 but I might throw that silver medal away.”

White has been full of praise for his former rival, even linking Australia’s World Cup failure with letting him go.

“Eddie Jones, he’s one of the most clever men of rugby,” White said. “He’s a student of the game, he’s got an unbelievable work ethic, you can see what sort of added value he has.

“I know what Eddie means to us because he’s been in the same final. He coached against us, he coached against England, he knows most of the players.”