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Ex-Ireland players assess the Springboks and squash doubts over 'big teams'
By Ben Smith
South Africaās 35-7 win over New Zealand has put their pool rivals on notice, including Ireland, who will face the Springboks in their third pool match.
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Three former Irish internationals have shared their views after watching the Boks dismantle New Zealand at Twickenham.
Former Ireland and Munster hooker Jerry Flannery believed that nothing changes after seeing the All Blacks ācompletely smashedā.
āI donāt think it changes the tournament, but what it does it gives an idea of how tough the pool is going to be,ā Flannery told RTE Sport.
āIf anything it sharpens the mind for Ireland when they see a team able to perform like that, particularly against New Zealand.
āEveryone had been talking about New Zealand and how they timed their run into this World Cup.
āThe All Blacks were completely smashed by the Springboks.ā
Ex-Ireland winger Simon Zebo said the Springboks were āutterly dominantā and the performance by New Zealand showed that you have to be at the top of your game.
āIt was a very strong performance from South Africa, their physicality is what their game is built on,ā he said.
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āThey were utterly dominant in every aspect of play but particularly the forwards.
āNew Zealand, I didnāt think performed really well. They looked very inaccurate, their attacking shape wasnāt flowing as they wouldāve liked to.
āYou just need to be very sharp and very on it if you want to compete against a highly motivated Springbok team.ā
Former loose forward Jamie Heaslip said that Irelandās recent success against ābiggerā teams showed that they can handle what the Springboks will throw at them.
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Ireland toppled the Boks 19-16 in Dublin last November, while they ended Franceās 14-game winning streak in February during the Six Nations with a 32-19 win.
Heaslip said the key was to control the pace of the game which Ireland do so well in their attacking shape.
āThey loaded up a 7-1 split as well, all sorts of statements being made,ā he said.
āBut Ireland have done it, theyāve been able to come up against these big teams.
āThe narrative at a club level is that the big teams seem to upset us, but at the top level weāve been able to manage it so far.
āI think we can control the pace in the game and move their team around and control the tempo, we can cause them our own problems.
āIt definitely sharpens the focus of the group knowing that the third game in the group is that South African team who are looking pretty menacing.ā
Ireland are renowned chokers
So are the French
I supposed the next victim is gonna be Scotland, they must have been sleeping with one eye opened!!!
The Springbok really played like the defending World Cup champions against All Blacks, this is how the defending champions should play, well done Boke!!! Keep us happy
The ABs have been hiding their soft belly with razzle dazzle of their kicking backline, they have lost the ability to play hard crunchy boring rugby like SA. So like 2019 they will suffer the same fate. No surprises here even the hard core NZ fans know that. Let Scott Robinson create a new game and pick new players for 2027.
The ABs will be onsong soon enough. You can't keep a good team down for long. They were just 'off'. They didn't dominate the rugby championship for nothing, and i can see how they will improve as the tournament progresses. The Boks have started with a blast (opposite to how they started in 2019, losing to ABs). But i doubt they can sustain that form. We will see.
They didn't dominate in the rugby championship and Bledisloe. They played better than the Boks in the first 20 mins and between minute 20 and 80 the Boks outscored them. It also took a very late penalty to get past Australia in their second outing. They have had strong showings, finding ways to win, so credit to them for that. But to state that they were dominating their matches, thats ridiculous.
An opinion is like an arsehole every has one
NZ didn't want to be out there past the 20 minute mark. I haven't seen such a low intensity performance since they lost to Argentina in Christchurch. SA were outstanding but NZ looked like a disinterested team whose Union had scheduled a quick slugfest to fill the coffers at their expense.
They were on the cusp of firing their coach for a string of hopeless performances last year. Since then they have jo-joed between good a positively abominable. They are not peaking, they are struggling to find a continuous upward improvement.
Boks are amazing vs. 14 or 13
Like Ireland most of their games, keep up the pressure and the yellow cards fly, now that SA is doing it everyone has an opinion.
I'll send some tissues
Exactly. But this is never mentioned in other articles here and elsewhere. International rugby is a different level. The margins are tighter. Reduce the players by 8-15% for a chunk of the game and mathematically you will lose. The score is then irrelevant. It was a friendly, how hard are you going to try a man down with the risk of injury right before the WC. Ask Ntamack.
And they're very good at forcing teams to play with 13/14 men. If the Ab's play like they played agains the Boks during the WC they are going to be playing short staffed for a lot of the tournament.
š still that but hurts
A bit like yourself, full of .....
Ireland are full of puff, they havenāt faced this bok team yet itās evolved since November from what I saw against Samoa on the weekend the boks will top this group
What you saw v Samoa was the Ireland B team playing in horrendous conditions, its fairly meaningless plus Ireland have clearly evolved since Nov 2023 given they won a grand slam and are unbeaten in 2023.
I agree - on the evidence of this Saturday even taking into account that this wasn't their top team Ireland are going to struggle unless they play their top 15 right through the knockout phases.
The Bokke canāt deal with extended phase play. They are too unfit. If Ireland can keep the ball away from the line out, maintain their high tackle count per forward, and overcome their tendency to drop to a knee for a stoppage, and keep the Bokke forward pack moving they will own them.
Keep the ball away from the line out. How would you go about doing that?
The only thing Ireland will own is another 4 years wondering how they didnāt get past the quarters.
Agreed, the Boks tend to try to slow every game down as much as possible so that they can play a forward based game albeit with better attacking options now, particularly against the better teams. Ireland and Scotland will attempt to blitz the Boks right from the whistle.
Unfit ššš
Just as well for the AB's that the Boks aren't fit hey š¤£
Anything else??????
š¤£to unfit.
If my grandmother had balls, she would be my grandfather
I do not think we can read too much into the friendlies. But more so, Ireland and France should ignore the 2022 results. The boks played at the end of their year with no kicker and the scoreline was narrow. The WC will be different and the only sad part is that two of these teams will go home after the QFs.
Agree.