Assistant coach Simon Easterby is not fazed by the prospect of Ireland tackling the Springboks’ 7-1 split on the bench, and are devising plans of their own for Saturday.
Andy Farrell’s charges claimed a narrow win when they faced the Boks last November in Dublin, but the stakes this weekend at the Stade de France are higher, in a World Cup Pool B clash that will be decisive for both teams’ quarter-final ambitions.
South Africa’s ‘Nuke Squad’ for the game has raised eyebrows, and it’s no secret that Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber aim to physically batter the Irish into submission by deploying seven replacement forwards.
Asked on Wednesday about the Boks’ controversial use of their substitutes and its impact on the outcome in the Saint-Denis Test, Easterby told reporters: “Every team has a strategy and it’s up to them to believe that is the right thing for each game.
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“They believe that’s the way they need to set themselves out to beat us on Saturday, just like we will be planning the way to beat South Africa.
“It’s a talking point. I don’t think it changes anything for us to be honest. Hindsight will say whether it was the right or wrong thing to do.
“We haven’t tinkered with that split before. I can’t remember too many times [talking about bench split].”
Ireland scored eight tries to earn a 59-16 win over Tonga in their second match of the World Cup last week, after they kicked off their campaign with a 12-try demolition of Romania.
On whether he believes the Irish have built up a head of steam for the clash of the No 1 and 2 teams in the world, Easterby said: “I think everyone knew that this was going to be the big game that we had in the first three rounds. We built up nicely through Romania and Tonga and have ironed out a few things in our attack.
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“Same defensively, we were tested a few more times against Tonga. We always knew this was going to be the pivotal game leading up to Scotland two weeks after.
“We are just going about our business. We are really confident and trust what we have been doing, not just recently but in the last two and a half years. This is what we have been building towards.
“We know that when we play well and in a certain way we will be difficult to play against and difficult to beat. We will be looking to implement a lot of the stuff that you’ll have seen over the last couple of years in what we do on Saturday, as we have tried to do against Tonga and Romania.
“We haven’t had to win ugly maybe too many times. What we did against Samoa in Bayonne was another way of winning the game when conditions weren’t suited to playing with width and ball in hand.
“We found a way to win with our forward pack dominating. You are going to have to do that at certain times in every game. It would be great if we could throw the ball around and score plenty of tries but we know we have to do certain things in the moment and make sure we are adaptable.”
Photo: Ian Kington/AFP