WHEN IRELAND THINK back to last November against the Springboks, it’s the missed chances that come to mind as much as the victory.
Andy Farrell’s men won 19-16 after a couple of late South African tries made it seriously edgy in the dying stages. When Ireland reviewed the game, they felt they should have been further ahead before that flurry of two Springboks scores in the closing 13 minutes.
There were three occasions in the first half when Ireland were a last pass away from getting around the famously aggressive Springboks defence. Under intense pressure, Ireland’s final pass didn’t go to hand. Good defence, for sure, but Ireland feel they should have been more accurate.
Some teams opt against putting themselves into those high-pressure situations against the Boks in the first place, worrying about turnovers or intercepts, but Ireland back their attack like few others. While there is balance to Ireland’s approach, with kicking playing an important part, they believe their slick passing game can break anyone down.
Their game plan is going to be fascinating this Saturday in Paris as they meet the Boks in the crucial Pool B fixture.
“I suppose what we learned in November is to expect anything from their defence,” says Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw.
“They are going to come hard off the line and they’ll leave two or three players out on the edge, and close you off on the inside.
“I think, for us, we probably have to be accurate and then we will have to have balls to go for it as well and play.”
Ireland’s contingent from Munster know the Springboks coaching staff of Rassie Erasmus, Jacques Nienaber, and Felix Jones well from the past, but that counts for little now given the South Africans’ ability to constantly tweak things.
Nienaber is their defensive mastermind and even though elements of his system are well known, it’s never straightforward playing against it.
“It’s something you are familiar with but it doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to play against them,” says Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray.
“They are a difficult outfit to play against, on both sides of the ball. In terms of their defence, you have seen their defence, especially in Twickenham [in their warm-up win over New Zealand], so we need to try to navigate around that.
“There is familiarity with having been coached by Jacques, Felix, and all the lads, but they are the type of guys who come up with new plans and tricky little things in new games, so you have to be prepared for everything.”
On the other side of the ball, the Boks believe they have become more dangerous.
Their kicking game remains essential to their approach and their sheer power is always difficult to deal with, but Ireland have seen South Africa broadening their attacking palate.
“They are playing a great brand of rugby at the moment,” says Ireland attack coach Mike Catt. “There is a real good mix of their physicality and their directness to their ability to move the ball.
“I think having Manie Libbok at 10, Damian Willemse at 15, and Willie le Roux, they’re definitely putting the ball through the hands more and causing problems, big problems, for a lot of teams. So we’re well aware of it, but we’ve still got to try and stop it.”
Last November, Ireland had a strong patch just after half time, scoring two tries through Josh van der Flier and Mack Hansen, which meant they carried a 16-6 lead into the closing 30 minutes of the game. It proved important.
The sense is that Ireland have to avoid falling behind the Boks in the opening half, given that Erasmus’ side are masters of squeezing teams once they’re ahead. The South Africans are happy to allow the opposition’s desperation to work against them.
Still, Ireland have belief that if this game is to be decided in the last few minutes, as may well be the case, they have the staying power to come out on top.
They’ve been pleased with how they’ve continued scoring all the way until the final whistle of their games against Romania and Tonga over the past two weekends. They feel they are possibly physically fitter than ever before.
“I think it was a brilliant pre-season,” says out-half Ross Byrne, “they got us in serious condition.
“It was just very game-related, we were straight into rugby training which was brilliant. It has prepared us very well and you can probably see it in the games.”
There’s plenty more talking to be done this week and the Boks naming their team on Tuesday evening will only add to the debate.
It should be as absorbing a World Cup pool game as any this year.
“South Africa are a world-class side and have an amazing team, a lot of them will be rested [against Romania yesterday], so they will have had a sort of two-week build-up towards our game,” says Catt.
“But that’s why we play the game, that’s why we wanted to play these games in big competitions and I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position to be competitive in these positions.”
