Much has changed since an England rugby squad last boarded a long-haul flight. Players and coaches alike flew home from New Zealand in October laden only with regret, having let the country down on and off the field. The 42-man party arriving in South Africa on Thursday has a significantly different feel to it, gloomy news indeed for the late-night bar owners of Durban.

Whatever happens on England's upcoming five-game tour, ferry jumping and dwarf racing will not be on the schedule. Stuart Lancaster's final pre-departure message to his players was unequivocal: anyone who brings English rugby into disrepute will be kissing goodbye to his Test career. Or, as Lancaster bluntly put it: "I made it clear this is the way the bus is going and we've all got to make a decision whether we want to be on it."

The now departed Martin Johnson said something similar prior to the ill-fated World Cup but the public tolerance threshold for Englishmen behaving badly on tour is not what it was. Lancaster has been at pains to instil a more positive, healthy team culture, adamant that on-field performance is fundamentally shaped by attitudes off it. "We've spoken about being good ambassadors on and off the field and that's very much what we want to achieve by the end of this tour.

"My starting point was to remind the players where we were six months ago. I showed them some of the headlines … the reason we've got to where we are now is that we've focused on why we want to play for England and the responsibility that comes with that. A lot of people in the room had been involved in incidents in the past and they all nodded their heads when I said we don't want to have any off-field distractions that affect our on-field performances. It's not about words, it's about behaviours and actions."

South Africans, as a result, should expect a visiting charm offensive, with the Springboks even due to join England's players in a joint community coaching tag event 24 hours before the final Test in Port Elizabeth. They will swiftly discover, though, that the tourists are not heading south for a flag-waving jolly, a point forcibly made by England's interim backs coach Mike Catt on Wednesday.

The Port Elizabeth-born Catt, along with Brad Barritt and Mouritz Botha, has strong South African connections but rules out any divided loyalties in the coming weeks. If anyone knows about the intensity of the challenge which awaits, he does. "You can't tell players, they have to feel it. For the past three to four months Stuart has been sending out emails saying: 'Prepare yourself, prepare yourself.' Brad did a presentation last night on what to expect from the country and the people. When it comes to the pitch it's fierce and it's brutal. I remember in 2000 we couldn't train until the Thursday after the first Test because we were so physically battered."

Catt is also warning his younger players that only the mentally tough will thrive. "It's a very welcoming place but a very hostile environment when you get into rugby circles. There's nothing better than beating them. Winning there [in 2000] was one of the highlights of my career knowing what it means to the whole country. People like Mo understands how passionate they are about their rugby, how vocal there are when they're walking down the streets. It's all part of touring South Africa. He'll get a bit of abuse but it's part of the job you've got to do.

"Because I understand Afrikaans and English I know all the chirps about Jonah Lomu. They love all that. It's good banter but we're not going to let any external things distract us from what we're there to do. I don't think it'll faze those guys [Botha and Barritt] at all. They're such hard-working blokes and successful in their own right. If people abuse them it's only because they're jealous of where they've got."

Catt is also wary of the theory this might just be a good time to be playing South Africa, who have a new coach, Heyneke Meyer, and scant preparation time in which to absorb the loss of departed legends such as Victor Matfield and John Smit. Weaving pretty backline patterns will be secondary, at least initially, to fronting up physically. "Getting on the front foot is key. If we can do that, their big men don't like going backwards. It's a great opportunity for the players. It's about showing Stuart they want to be in the squad for 2015. That is what this tour is about. It's about who can and who can't take what's coming."

The midweek matches in Kimberley and Potchestroom will certainly tell Lancaster plenty about Jonathan Joseph, Christian Wade and Joe Launchbury, for instance, while the fit-again Toby Flood is among many tourists "desperate" to claim a Test jersey. Ben Morgan flew out 24 hours early to try to accelerate his recovery from injury but Lancaster will not tolerate claims of end-of-year weariness. "Every time you pull on an England shirt you want to earn respect. There's no sense from any player of 'I'm tired, it's the end of a long hard season'. I don't think that's any excuse whatsoever. We've got 42 players fit and raring to go. We're looking forward to the challenge."