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Schalk Brits predicts Ireland will flop at the Rugby World Cup
By Ian Cameron
Former Springboks hooker Schalk Brits has predicted that Ireland will flop at the Rugby World Cup in France in a little over three months time.
Speaking on the RugbyPass Offload Podcast, Brits predicted a gloomly campaign for Andy Farrell's world no.1s, despite the world beating Test record over the last two seasons.
"Ireland specifically, it's a bit weird. They've never performed in a World Cup and I hope, from our perspective (Springboks') they keep it there, until they prove it different. They've always been great between World Cups, but when the World Cup comes... have they made a quarterfinal, or past a quarter final?
"Unfortunately, that's a belief that is hard to change within a group. If we take Saracens, I mean, how many finals did we lose in? Eventually then win one, then the belief grows and even in the tight exchanges, you believe, you can win, and sometime that's just the difference."
When asked was he 'basically writing Ireland off' for the World Cup, he replied "I did not say that!"
"I hope Ireland and South Africa go through to the semis," before joking: "They going to be going home quite quickly. They'll have the bus booked for after the pool stages!
Later in the segment, when asked to give his predictions, Brits said "Ireland will come up short under pressure", predicting South Africa or France were going to win it.
When co-anchor Max Lahiff predicted that Ireland would 'flop', Brits doubled-down on his dire forecast for the Irish, saying 'I agree. They're the No.1 team in the world. They've won everything at the Six Nations and that's the other part that will be hard for them, to manage the pressure of being the favourites going into the World Cup, or number 1 or two.
"That is extremely hard to manage that. That is a different kettle of fish."
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Latest Comments
This article overlooks how the 9 position has developed to be a playmaker, which these 2 are both excellent at. Defences are so good now there is not the luxury of going 9 -> 10 on every play. Playing “off 9” as they say, has become very commonplace these days, but 10+ years ago you hardly saw this. Boiling the great modern 9s down to box kicking doesn’t do justice to how good the great ones have become. Dupont would be the first choice 10 in most teams in the world, JGP pops up in places you would never expect a 9 to be.
Go to commentsThe banning of the croc roll will make carrying the ball into contact far more risky, leading to more kicking, and the change to the Dupont law will mean forwards have to do far more running than they do now. As a result I think there will be a rise of smaller, more mobile forwards who are strong defenders and strong over the ball like Kirifi.
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