THE PRESENCE OF CJ Stander and two more South African-born men in Ireland’s squad in Cape Town this weekend will undoubtedly fuel plenty of emotional fires.
For Thinus Delport however, the much more significant move between the nations will be a more subtle and longer term impact than anything a Munster back row can inflict on a Springbok tomorrow.
Johan Erasmus was Delport’s team-mate at the Cats (now Lions) and the Springboks, and the former fullback could always see Munster’s new director of rugby show a thirst for learning more.
“Rassie’s always been one of the innovative thinkers of rugby,” says Delport, who will be part of Sky Sport’s punditry panel on Saturday.
“Back in the days of the late 90s, early 2000s, before all the emphasis was put on analysis systems, he bought an analysis system out of his own pocket and spent hours and hours after games analysing and previewing games.
“He’s very innovative, he thinks outside the box, really good at setting up structures.”
On top of the installation of structures and systems for analysis across South African rugby, Delport hails the high performance mobile coaching unit put together by Erasmus as another prime example of his abilities to organise and develop.
“He’s taken coach education to the next level, away from the big rugby centres and developed all areas of the game. He’s one of the rugby talents that will be sorely missed by South African rugby.”
In the more immediate future, Delport believes that missing men will be the undoing of Ireland on this summer’s tour.
Having never won a Test away to the Springboks this tour was always going to be a tall order. But the loss of four Lions in Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Simon Zebo only solidifies the confidence in Cape Town.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Delport says with an exhale when asked about Ireland’s chances of winning even one of the three Tests.
“To be honest, it’s the end of a very long season. In the (Rugby World Cup) pool stages they were very impressive and they’re always very innovative… in a couple of close Six nations games, it didn’t work out.
The first Test is going to be a close affair, but then fatigue levels will set in and South Africa will find their feet. The second Test is in Johannesburg, at high altitude, and I think that’s really going to put the Irish players under stress.
He added: “We know playing against Ireland is going to be a very physical battle, emotions are going to be high. You look at the history of South Africa playing Ireland, it’s always a tasty match.
“A lot of pressure can be put on Ireland, especially on the 10 channel because of the relative lack of experience there.”
As for the likes of Stander, Strauss, Quinn Roux and other newly Irish-qualified players like Jared Payne, something about the three-year bridge to international rugby doesn’t quite sit well with Delport.
“It’s the modern game and you have to utilise resources according to the regulations. (World Rugby vice chairman) Gus Pichot clearly stated that’s one of the rules he will start looking at. I think three years is probably a bit short.
“If you do make the decision to leave your country of birth and pursue a career elsewhere, it’s got to be a bit longer before you can qualify for that country.
“You can play for another country before you can come close to becoming a citizen.
“It’s got to be more on par with the immigration regulations of a country.”
Sky Sports will have exclusive live action of all three Irish tests on Sky Sports 1 with coverage starting from 3.30pm and kick off at 4pm.
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