Maro Itoje can prove he is world's best by dominating Eben Etzebeth

There are some battles in Test matches you look forward to for the prospect of incredibly skilled players facing off against each other, or tactical generals plotting live on the field how to outsmart their opponent.

And then there are the match-ups where you cannot wait to see two giants bludgeon the daylights out of each other over 80 minutes. Maro Itoje against Eben Etzebeth fits into that last bracket, and how well each world-class second-row performs at Twickenham will no doubt dictate the outcome of this Test.

Itoje might have dabbled at blindside flanker against Argentina and Japan – something Eddie Jones admitted this week was essentially an opportunity to see if he could still play at six, with the coach believing he can – but the decision to move him back to lock for the biggest Tests of the autumn against New Zealand and South Africa is no coincidence. England need one of their best players selected in his best position.

Jones, it turns out, believes that, aged 28 and with 61 caps to his name, Itoje is on the cusp of his great second age as a player, highlighting in particular the strength of his defensive game.

"He’s been ticking them off; [Michael] Leitch in the second game, [Brodie] Retallick in the last game and now he’s got Etzebeth. I think we are seeing the second coming of Maro. He came out like a comet, but like all good players there is a period where you stabilise, but now he is going up again – and we will see the best of Maro on Saturday.

"He is, at his best, the best defensive player in the world, and we want to see more of that. There was a certain basketball player who played for the USA in 2008, Kobe Bryant, and his sole focus was on being the best defensive player, and Maro to me has that in him. He is such a destructive defensive player that he creates attacking opportunities."

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but both Jones and Mako Vunipola, a long-term Saracens and England team-mate, noted this week how "instinctive" Itoje is in his play, and how he has strived to find that balance between reacting and strategising on the field.

Jones said: "That has been the challenge for [Itoje], because he is a completely instinctive player and if he does 100 things he will get 99 of them right. But when you add the task of working out where we are going to win the ball, that takes slower thought and for a while that probably affected his game and now he is just starting to get the right balance."

Vunipola added: "Maro goes off what he feels. There are times where he maybe overthought things and tried to solve everything by himself. That’s just growing pains of a young player, and as you’ve seen, he’s a massive leader for us, not only because he calls the lineouts but he’s the one who leads the physicality in the forwards."

England will certainly need Itoje to deliver on that last part if they are to have a hope of keeping South Africa quiet. Of course, no one thrives off that physicality and confrontation more than Etzebeth.

The image of South Africa's enforcer going after Allan Alaalatoa of Australia earlier this year – eyes bulging, marching the prop backwards – was quite something. The 31-year-old is big, of course, at 6ft 8in and 19 stone-plus (Itoje is 6ft 5in, and more than 18st). But as noted by Vunipola, it is how Etzebeth imposes himself that makes him one of the game's best.

"He’s a big man. That helps. But to be fair to him, you get a few that are big that don’t like throwing it about, and he is one of those that likes to use his physical attributes," Vunipola said.

"He’s very physical, confrontational and tough and he’ll keep coming all day. We have to be ready for that. He does [set the tone physically], but they, as a pack, there are numerous players in that team that can set the tone for them.

"It’s a great challenge for us. It is one of those that, as a pack, this is a Test you want to be playing in. This is where you want to put your hand up to face them. You can either walk towards them, or shy away and probably never play international rugby again.”

It will come as a surprise if Saturday's Test passes without some sort of flare-up between the pair of elite locks. Itoje's celebrations rev up team-mates and rile up opponents. Etzebeth at some point may want a polite word.

Forget Tyson Fury's fight with Derek Chisora next weekend – this is a true box-office clash between a couple of heavyweights of the highest quality.