Ireland host world champion Springboks in Dublin ‘litmus test’

Dublin’s Aviva Stadium Kickoff Time: 17:40 GMT on Saturday, November 22

Despite South Africa’s dominance of the international team of their time, Rassie Erasmus’ side still has a box unlocked.

The world’s No. 1 team has won both the World Cup and the Rugby Championship in successive years, hoovering up silverware.

The well-known Springboks have won Test matches all over the world, including winning the Webb Ellis Cup in Yokohama and Paris.

While naturally receiving the most attention when they lost to New Zealand in Wellington this summer, their record in the northern hemisphere reads played six, won six, and won away victories against all but one of the Six Nations teams.

The only exception is Ireland, who play South Africa at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Only Eben Etzebeth, South Africa’s most-capped player, was a member of the XV that will play in Dublin on Saturday when they last won a Test there in 2012.

The intimidating lock noted that this was the fixture that jumped out of a busy schedule when his team arrived in Ireland for the fourth of their five autumn tests.

He said, “We’re excited because this fixture definitely stood out when we received the calendar at the beginning of the year.”

Eight years ago, Ireland won four of its previous five meetings, including a pool-stage World Cup match at the Stade de France in 2023, with the exception of one in Dublin and one in Durban.

Many people are starting to wonder whether there is a growing animosity between Ireland and South Africa as a result of their performances in the match.

Rob Herring, a South African-born hooker from Ireland and the owner of 43 caps, claimed this week on the Ireland Rugby Social podcast that the Irish team have a “arrogance” back home.

The 35-year-old, who missed out on squad selection this month, said, “There’s obviously a bit of a rivalry there, and the media are building it up quite a bit.”

“The Irish are haughty, in my opinion, and many of the South African fans and my friends.” The media is doing their thing, not the players, that is.

The rivalry is present because the games were so close, he says.

Another way to reject the idea of a grudge match that surpasses any other was through South Africa and Bath prop Thomas du Toit, who had a brief spell with Munster between 2016 and 2017.

We don’t see it that way, he said, but the media and perhaps the newspapers would like to say that.

“We’ve really taken every match, put it in its own box, and not thought too much about the past,” I believe what we’ve done well in the last few months.

Regardless of the motivation, both parties find this to be a challenging game.

With Wales still to come next week, signing off with another clean sweep in November after winning the Rugby Championship would be a ominous sign for those hoping to wrest control of Australia’s fate as the year of their control turns to Australia 2027.

A win in Dublin would undoubtedly put an end to the wait for Erasmus to have a “great season.”

The head coach said, “We never, I thought, played always brilliant rugby, but there were times when we played terrible rugby.”

“So it would be great if we played really well in this game and played to our standards,” he said.

There isn’t much to choose between the two teams, according to the last five results. You would love to win this game, therefore, yes. We would love to say “yes, we had a great season, we beat Ireland in Dublin,” something we haven’t done since I’ve been involved.

The hosts are probably more desperate for victory. The autumn has been uneven since their large British and Irish Lions contingent and spring defeat to France in the Six Nations tournament in the spring have been disappointing.

Their best performance to date came against an admittedly tiring Australia last week, which they were deservingly defeated by New Zealand in Chicago before an unconvincing win over Japan back in Dublin.

With no wins and six losses in their past nine games against the other top five teams, Ireland would be placed fourth in the world, just below England, which would dispel any doubts about an aging squad that had fallen significantly short of their 2023 peak.

The perception of the autumn may depend on Saturday’s performance, according to skipper Caelan Doris, while hooker Dan Sheehan described their final game of the year as a “great measure” of Ireland’s current state.

Even Farrell once called the game a “litmus test” for his team’s current level because he rarely engages in black and white interpretations of performances and outcomes.

The head coach said, “We’ll learn, but we’re trying to prove to ourselves that we’re going forward and that this will be the litmus test for where we are.”

In the weeks leading up to the Six Nations, “Yes, that’s going to pique people’s minds.”