The failed drug tests and a poor showing in every test on tour has brought out the already sharp knives as Pieter de Villiers attempts to hold on to a job that few believe he should have.

It is a dark and lonely road that Pieter de Villiers walks on now, as he takes on an opponent in England that is playing some of their best rugby in years. For the first time this week we have seen the normally up beat coach struggling to lift moral and as one correspondent put it appears to be “muted by a tranquilliser dart fired by his communications adviser.”

Hamstrung by not having at least 16 of his first choice players at his disposal PDV has had to row with the oars he has been given in what could be a shipwreck of a tour if he doesn’t somehow inspire his team to prove the bookies wrong and produce a win. It would probably be a stay of execution for the coach and one that he will be praying happens.

What has heightened the ill feeling towards PDV is that he has had at his disposal three local teams which have played some of the finest rugby in the Southern Hemisphere. The Bulls and Stormers were the best in the Super 14 and the Sharks beat both of them in the Currie Cup. There is a wealth of talent available but still the results are not forth coming. Should the Boks lose on Saturday they will end with a 50% record for 2010 and for holders of the title World Champions that is simply not good enough.

The game plan has been poor and antiquated as South Africa have been guilty of kicking too much ball, slow to appreciate that possession is once again nine-tenths of the law. They appear to be short on confidence, desperately hanging on to the belief that familiar players and unadventurous methods are still the way ahead.

With only four tests matches left before the World Cup in 2011 PDV is throwing in all his chips on this last gasp effort to secure his job. There is no more time to experiment with Lambie, there is no more time to bring in a new game plan, for the Springboks and their coach they simply have to go big or go home to a fan base that is fast losing its patience.

The Springbok supporter finds himself in the proverbial catch 22 situation, desperately wanting his famous team to hammer the Poms but knowing that a win would leave them with a coach that they have lost confidence in.

With guaranteed certainty we can expect that the match will be another physical and tense encounter, unless South Africa invokes something startling. "If you dwell too much on the past you forget to move on … everybody will catch up with you," cautioned De Villiers. On Saturday we will know if this has already taken place or not.