THE ultimate challenge - that is how defence guru Shaun Edwards is approaching Wales’ first autumn Test against world champions South Africa at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Switching easily from Wasps against Newport Gwent Dragons at High Wycombe on Sunday to Wales at the Vale of Glamorgan yesterday, Edwards left no-one in any doubt about the challenge they are facing as they seek only their second victory over the Springboks in 23 attempts.

“We are expecting them to create the ultimate challenge for us because they are world champions,” he said. “They have proved they can play many styles, they can play the power game as traditionally they are well known for their physicality and their power game, but what they have also had in the last few years is incredible skill offloading. Add all that to a destructive defence and that’s why they are the world champions.

“It’s the next step up for us. We were delighted with the way we approached the Six Nations as a group, but I know Warren (Gatland) is an incredibly competitive person and he wants to compare himself to the southern hemisphere teams. This is our chance.

“There will be 70,000-odd people there, a packed house, and it doesn’t get more exciting. It’s the absolute elite level of our sport, it certainly gets your palms sweating, thinking about playing the world champions at home in front of our partisan fans.

“For myself I’m pitting myself against some of the best coaches and rugby brains in the world. If you want to excel these are the kind of uncomfortable situations you have to put yourself into.”

Edwards hopes Wales will have learned the lessons of their summer visit to South Africa when they lost both Tests, though they made a far better show of it in the second match after being well beaten in the first.

“There is no doubt there were many aspects of our performance we were disappointed with in the first Test, but in the second we fronted up considerably and played with a true spirit that represented the Welsh people. I would like to think we could step up a level again, particularly given that we are playing on our own turf,” he said.

“I was very proud of the players, I learned that I am dealing with true competitors, particularly after that first Test. There were guys in that review room at 7.30 the next morning trying to look at the computers to see where they went wrong and constantly asking questions of me.

“We can all be great coaches when things are going fantastically well, but the true merit of any man in any walk of life is how he responds when things have not gone as he hoped they might. It’s then about how he bounces back from that setback.

“In the lead up to the second Test the players showed what I would want from them in terms of having competitive natures.

“Even after the second Test when the players had given a better account of themselves they were not happy. They didn’t have an attitude that said ‘we gave them a game’, it was ‘hell, we could have won that game.’ They were looking forward to November then.”

Edwards says he is not concerned at the lack of real form, especially at the line-out, by the Ospreys who make up the bulk of the Welsh team. And he says one win against the three big southern hemisphere teams would be satisfactory while admitting history is against them.

“It’s not for me to comment how all the teams are playing, but they (Ospreys players) did a pretty good job for us in the Six Nations so we are hoping they will repeat that form,” he said.

“Looking at the records history doesn’t suggest we are going to be winning all the matches. History is incredibly important and can influence the future, but it can’t totally determine it.

“As the cliche goes, we need to take it one game at a time. South Africa is the first and we’d like to think we could put our best foot forward and then take it from there. Statistically you’d have to say one win from the series would be positive.”