Dublin – After waiting the best part of three years to experience a win over the All Blacks, one may have forgiven the Springboks if they had to rejoice over the Ellis Park triumph for a good few weeks.
But this Bok group under the leadership of Heyneke Meyer and Jean de Villiers have been making all the right noises and doing good things since then.
Instead of partying, the South Africans took a planned two-week break, and then got down to work in sauna-like conditions at a Stellenbosch training camp, and last week in Johannesburg, running those back-breaking shuttles and with the “aid” of the latest heart-stopper in the rugby conditioning world – the resistance band.
So, they are in their best shape in years for a November tour and that should result in a more energetic display than has been the norm at this time of the season.
But has the build-up to tomorrow’s clash against Ireland been too long? Will the Boks be a bit stuffed from all the training?
Those questions can only be answered at the Aviva Stadium through their on-field performance.
Their mental approach certainly seems to be in order. It would’ve been easy to think that Ireland would be easy-beats as they are missing up to 15 Test players through injury, but the Boks are not far off that number themselves on the crock list.
Already missing loosehead prop Cian Healy, the Irish lost experienced hooker Rory Best earlier this week as well in their latest withdrawal.
“The last time (in 2012), it could’ve gone either way, and they’ve got a good record against South Africa, especially here (in Dublin). They are a proud nation and we’ve studied their tapes in depth, and they are very good in the first-phases and very good on attack,” Meyer said.
“But we’ve been trying to focus on our game. I believe that as a coach, sometimes we try to be too clever, where we work out certain ploys for certain players. But that’s not the way I coach. If you want to be the best, you have to enforce the way you want to play, it doesn’t matter who you play against. You work out a game plan with which you believe you will be successful.”
And while the Bok attack has experienced significant growth in the last 12 months, there are a few key areas where De Villiers and his team will be looking to get greater reward compared to the Rugby Championship.
The Bok scrum has improved as 2014 has worn on, but the management were visibly frustrated by their line-out maul not resulting in more points on the board, whether through tries or penalties.
A lot of that frustration would’ve been directed at the referees, but good teams should look to sort things out themselves on the field, and they have to find a way to push the Irish pack backwards.
Irish captain Paul O’Connell and his troops will be waiting in anticipation, ready for a scrap. But this Bok team is about so much more than just big forwards who bash it up, so the maul could be a surprise weapon instead of the only one.
Another question that Meyer would want answered is how star young flyhalf Handré Pollard will handle the thorough examination that he will have to emerge from against Irish No10 Johnny Sexton.
Pollard has been a bit of a revelation in his last three Tests, against the All Blacks (twice) and Australia, but it must be remembered who his direct opponent was in those games. Aaron Cruden, Bernard Foley and Beauden Barrett are all talented flyhalves, but they don’t have the all-round game and hardened experience of Sexton.
The 29-year-old has seen and done it all for club and country, and beat the Boks almost single-handedly in 2009 when he kicked five penalties in a 15-10 win in Dublin. He slotted more three-pointers in 2010 and 2012, but it wasn’t enough as South Africa held on to win on those occasions.
The 20-year-old Pollard is a class act, but the Bok coach will hope his pivot can win his one-on-one battle in what will be his first Test in the Northern Hemisphere. “I just spoke to Handré about that, as I think Sexton is up there with the best. What I like about him is that he is a very good tactical kicker. They were way ahead of the rest of the Six Nations teams with their tactical kicking, and we have struggled with that and our contestable kicks against the All Blacks,” said Meyer.
“One of the dangers is that if Sexton is going to turn us and put us into the corners, it’s going to be a long day for us. We can’t get out of that. If he plays well, Ireland play well.
“People look at Handré at 10, but he is only 20. And Jan (Serfontein) is 21, and he is at 12, even though he’s got 13 on his back. To have such young inside backs against top teams is unheard of, and the experience they will get on this tour (will be invaluable).
“If we can keep more or less the same backline, we really want to improve our attacking play. This will be different pressure for those two youngsters and they will learn from this, but the whole backline has been great. It starts with the forwards getting quick ball, and I truly believe (scrumhalf Francois) Hougaard is playing his best rugby.”