It is a recurring theme – Scotland lies in wait as the first big hurdle ahead of a series of tough matches.

At the World Cup last year, ahead of their triumphant march to the Webb Ellis Cup, the Springbok had to overcome a resilient Scotland in the tournament opener.

Even though they lost to Ireland in a later pool match, that 18-3 win over Scotland set the tone for the tournament.

As they embark on their year-end tour, Scotland again looms large – the first of three challenging matches.

Scotland at Murrayfield on November 10 will again set the tone, followed by England at Twickenham on November 16 and Wales in Cardiff a week later.

However, Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said their focus at this stage is solely on the clash against Scotland.

“I think we’d be stupid to look too far ahead,” the skill guru said about an approach that worked wonders at the World Cup.

“Our main focus at the moment is on Scotland,” he added.

“If you look at the Six Nations competition earlier this year, Scotland put in some great performances.

“They won against England and Wales.

“It was also close until late in the game against Ireland, so they’re a tough team to beat.

“They’ll also have a good crowd behind them, and they have quality players.

“On a good day, if we allow them to perform, they can punish us.”

(LISTEN as Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick reveals their plans ahead of the opening Test of the year-end series….)

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He added Scotland has some quality players, like Finn Russell – whom Stick described as one of the best attacking flyhalves in the world.

There is also South African-born wing Duhan van der Merwe, along with a few other players with strong South African connections – Pierre Schoeman and Huw Jones.

“In [Sione] Tuipulotu as their new captain they have a good leader.

“They’re in a good space as a team, and there’s consistency in their coaching staff.

“It’s going to be a tough match.

“At least we have an extra week to prepare.”

Stick said he was pleased with the team’s first two days of preparations for the year-end tour in Jersey, adding that the enthusiasm among the players to get back into Test mode was tangible.

They completed their first training block of the week on Tuesday – which comprises four training sessions over two days – and will have a rest day on Thursday before resuming their on-field preparations on Friday.

The squad will then travel from Jersey to Edinburgh on Sunday.

“We have two days of training under the belt, and from a coaching perspective it’s been a good,” said Stick.

“Everything went smooth with the travel, while the people in Jersey and the hotel staff have been very welcoming and the training facilities are world-class, so it’s been great so far.

“One can also sense the excitement among the players, and they’re really putting the hard work at gym and at the field sessions.

“In terms of the training itself, we’re fortunate to have this training camp because some of the players have been participating in the United Rugby Championship while some of the Japanese players have been off, so the main goals for the week have been to ensure that we focus on how we want to play and build the intensity of our training sessions.”

Stick added: “It’s been tough because we’ve had double training sessions in the last two days and we’re really pushing the players.

“But this week has given us an opportunity to implement what we’d like to and introduce a few things, so by the time we reach Test week in a few days, we don’t overload the players.”

Stick said the weather conditions in Jersey – from pouring rain to sunshine – have also been good for the team to acclimatise to the UK conditions.

“I don’t think it [the conditions] will be difficult, especially if one considers that the majority of the players have played in the URC here in the UK already,” said Stick.

“That said, the nice thing is that it was a little wet at our first training session, and the chances are good that we might have one or two wet games in the series, so fortunately the players will be well conditioned to handle that.”