“One thing that he has brought to our side is that he understands the European sides very well, and he also has a good relationship with some of the coaches in New Zealand, so that is some information that we managed to get from him.

“I have to be honest and say that he is a very good guy and it is nice to work with (somebody who is) this passionate about his attack and there is a lot that he is contributing to our side, most recently with his attack and his philosophy behind the attack.

“So, he has really contributed a lot in a short space of time. You saw in the game played against Japan the opportunities we had and we managed to capitalise on them and it was because of his contribution also that is adding value on our side."

Word was that Jones had been taken as a defence consultant in the wake of attack coach Swys De Bruin's sudden departure from his role, rather than step into the latter's shoes so close to a World Cup and risk cluttering the players' minds with new ideas.

Stick's take suggests otherwise.

Whatever Jones' exact role, he is already making a name for himself in a country which is rugby mad but one with little experience when it comes to foreign coaches on the Springboks staff, let alone one so young and with just the one post, at Munster, to his name.

Erasmus, under whom he worked at Munster, has long been an admirer and tried to secure his services for the Rugby Nations champions before now. The players seem equally taken with the diligent new assistant who was invited on tour with Ireland by Joe Schmidt back in 2016.

Pieter Steph Du Toit was impressed with Jones from day one. Well, day two actually. It was on Jones' second day in the job that the two shared a seat on a train and the Dubliner's first gambit was to pull out his computer and start some one-on-ones with the squad.

“He is a hard worker and he understands the game very well as well,” said the Stormers forward. “South Africans enjoy that bit more of a personal touch and he focused more on the individual with us. That's something different that he has brought.”

Such focus is needed now that the Boks have landed in Tokyo's hinterland. Their hotel is located a stone's throw from Disneyland and is accessible by a Disney monorail decked out in Mickey Mouse paraphernalia. Du Toit wandered around the park on Sunday.

As distractions go it was a welcome one.

South Africa have had to deal with the loss of De Bruin, a positive drugs test by star winger Aphiwe Dyantyi who has tested positive for a banned substance and is requesting for his B sample to be analysed as well as the investigation into allegations of racial assault against Eben Etzebeth, which he denies.

“Any distractions we will just try to put behind us,” said Du Toit. “We don't try to focus too much on it as a team. We just try and focus on every weekend and every week day by day going forward.”

South Africa kick off their World Cup on Saturday with a game against world champions and great rivals New Zealand.