ALREADY IRELAND’S PLAYERS are filtering back into their provincial set-ups, with the Six Nations quickly slipping out of sight in the rearview mirror.
Many of Joe Schmidt’s squad will feature in this weekend’s vital Guinness Pro12 action, as that tournament again takes primary focus for what should be a thrilling run-in to the end of the season.
Parked in the back of most players’ minds, however, will be June’s three-Test tour to South Africa. For those whose bodies hold up between now and then – there are no guarantees in this sport – a gruelling task awaits.
Ireland are intent of making history, but one wonders what kind of shape Schmidt’s players will be in physically as they meet a group of Springboks who will be coming into their physical prime in June, just over three months after the start of their season.
Ireland’s squad have been slogging away since the beginning of their World Cup preparations last July. Already it looks like an uphill battle to win one of the three Tests in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, but Schmidt will relish the challenge.
The Boks have faced Ireland 22 times in Test rugby history, with Ireland winning just five of those games. This pair of teams have met seven times on South Africa soil, with a home win every single time.
Most recently, Eddie O’Sullivan’s Ireland lost 31-17 and then 26-17 on the 2004 tour. Shane Horgan scored the visitor’s only try in the first Test, while Brian O’Driscoll and Tyrone Howe dotted down in the second. Ronan O’Gara’s boot was of importance.
Schmidt’s crop have an extra Test to go one better this summer, but other Irish sides have learned harsher lessons. In 1998, the Paddy Johns-captained team were beaten 37-13 in the first Test and then hammered 33-0 in an infamously bad-tempered second.
“Staring down the barrel, you could go there and get hosed,” says Ireland wing Andrew Trimble of the challenge ahead.
“That’s what South Africa do, that’s what they do to sides. Physically they torture sides and we’ve got to be up for that, meet that and I’m sure we will.”
The Boks don’t have a head coach in place at present, with Heyneke Meyer having left after the World Cup, although it is expected that Allister Coetzee will be confirmed as the new man early next month.
That would seem an advantage for Ireland, given that Coetzee will not have a great amount of time to install his systems and ideas, though Schmidt’s men are aware they will need to be at a peak even for the opening Test in Cape Town.
Ireland started promisingly against Wales in the Six Nations just passed, but dipped against France and England before regathering momentum in wins over Italy and Scotland.
“When you go to South Africa you have to hit the ground running,” says Trimble. “It took us three or four games to get going in this championship. We don’t have that luxury there. We didn’t have it here either, but if you do that in South Africa the tour will be over.
So we have to start quickly, build on the momentum we have had in the last two weeks and use that over there, try and build on that phase play. Communication is getting better, awareness is getting better and guys are reading phase play a lot better.
“We’ve shown that we can stretch defences when we are a little bit more organised. It’s going to be a big ask going to South Africa though.”
Schmidt has not led Ireland on a tour of this nature yet, with the two-Test visit to Argentina in 2014 having been relatively low-key. June in South Africa will be altogether different.
“When you go down there, if we don’t produce something that is our best performance we are not going to be able to compete, but we will take a lot of confidence from the last two weeks,” says Trimble.
“Hopefully we can produce performances like that. If we are taking anything away it is the fact that if we don’t turn up we are going to get our heads kicked in. Maybe just that fear factor will make us get our stuff together, get organised, get set.”
The arrival of Andy Farrell as defence coach next month will be timely for Ireland, given that the intermittently passive nature of their defence will be one of the key work-ons to arise from this Six Nations.
The Boks ran hard, but have the ability to play to width too, meaning Ireland’s defence will need to show immediate signs of growth under Farrell.
Defensively, they’re going to be a handful physically and the pace of the ball they play, they have a lot of strength out wide too,” says Trimble.
“There’s a few things we can take from that [Scotland] that we’re pleased about, but once or twice I thought we went a little bit too sideways when we should have stayed straight.
“Farrell is going to address that I’m sure.”
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
