'Rassie hates the Irish. He really doesn’t like us'

Simon Zebo has thrown more fuel on the fire ahead of Ireland’s two-Test series against the Springboks by saying that Rassie Erasmus “hates the Irish”.

The series kicks off in Pretoria with the first Test on July 6 before the second Test in Durban on July 13.

Zebo’s comments came after Springbok centre Damian de Allende’s recent interview with Jim Hamilton on RugbyPass TV’s Walk the Talk series.

De Allende got tongues wagging when said the Boks have been “disrespected” by Irish media in the past.

“The Test match in Dublin in 2022 was a tough loss [16-19], so there have been a few tough games against them,” De Allende said at the time.

“We lost to them in 2017 when they beat us 38-3.

“The way the media spoke, they completely disrespected us. So, for us as a group and for us as Springboks, it is about getting respect back, not their respect, but our own respect.

“We don’t need to, but we really want to beat Ireland. It is going to be an incredible Test match.”

De Allende’s comments were brought up in the latest episode of the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast and Zebo was asked for his opinion.

“He [De Allende] had a few headlines for sure,” said Zebo.

“But to be fair to his point the media probably did get a bit out of control with the hopes and expectations.

“It was a little bit extra around South Africa because Rassie had coached us here at Munster and Jacques Nienaber is now coaching at Leinster and there is a big rivalry.

“Rassie hates the Irish. He really doesn’t like us, which is quite funny.

“It will build up even more and it drip feeds into the players.

“RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn have been copping a little bit of flak over it.

“There is a really big rivalry there and it is bubbling. It’s mainly the Irish media’s fault, based in Dublin, not the Irish media down here where I am [in Limerick].

“It’s going to be a juicy Test series for sure.”