Bok coach Rassie: 'I would be lying if I said we don't want to tick the Ireland box'

The Springbok players this week have played down the “revenge” factor ahead of their huge clash with archrivals Ireland on Saturday, but coach Rassie Erasmus said he would be “lying” if he said that ticking the Ireland box was not important.

Erasmus and his illustrious group of players and management have won two World Cups since they got together in 2018, but in that time, they have lost four of five games played against Ireland, and none of them have won a Test match in Dublin, not even 139-cap veteran Eben Etzebeth.

“Personally, I have never won a match here in Dublin,” Erasmus said. “Even as a coach of Munster, we lost to the Scarlets here in the PRO 14 final; we lost here to Saracens in the European Cup; as Boks, we have not won a Test here.

“I would be lying if we said we did not want to tick this box, but it is not about revenge,” Erasmus explained. “When we play Ireland, it is a nice, competitive environment against a team that has been in the top three for several years.

“It is exciting playing them, and beating them in Dublin is something we have not done. If you don’t talk about it the right way in the media, you get a lot of flak,” the coach continued.

“To give context to records, we gave away a record against Australia earlier this year at Ellis Park. Life moved on, and we went to New Zealand and gave them their biggest defeat in the history of the game.

“If you dwell too much on things, you tend to stand still, but it will be great if we can say, ‘We won in Dublin at last after they had had our number in recent games.”

Erasmus was speaking at the media conference in which he discussed his team to game against Ireland. As expected, he brought back all of the big guns he rested last week for the match against Italy after the crunch clash with France.

The two personnel changes to the squad from the victory in Paris see Ruan Nortje being promoted from the replacements bench to the starting lineup in place of Lood de Jager, while Kwagga Smith returns to the team on the bench in his place.

The only other change to the squad is in the backline, where Canan Moodie switches from centre against Italy to wing to fill the void left by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who has returned to South Africa after suffering a concussion last week.

De Jager and fellow lock Franco Mostert were not considered for selection due to their disciplinary appeals and hearings this week to avoid the outcomes of those decisions impacting the team’s preparations for the match.

Cheslin Kolbe (wing) and Cobus Reinach (scrumhalf) will both feature in their 49th Test matches, leaving them only one game short of joining Snyman and several other teammates on 50 caps.

Props Boan Venter and Thomas du Toit will form the front row with hooker Malcolm Marx; Eben Etzebeth and Nortje will start at lock, with Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Jasper Wiese completing a powerful forward pack.

In the backline, Reinach will reunite with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at halfback, with Kolbe and Moodie on the wings, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel pairing up in the midfield, and Damian Willemse at fullback.

Erasmus’ bench includes the back-up front row of Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Wilco Louw, while Snyman will provide cover at lock, Smith at loose forward, hybrid Esterhuizen able to cover flanker and centre, and two specialist backs in Grant Williams and Manie Libbok.

Springbok team

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Boan Venter.

Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 André Esterhuizen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.