Former Springboks skipper John Smit has shared his thoughts on the feisty South Africa-Ireland rivalry that has developed in recent years.<\/p>\n
The retired hooker captained his country to Rugby World Cup success in 2007 at a time when Irish rugby was only starting to fully get to grips with the demands of the professional game.<\/p>\n
The outlook, though, is very different 18 years later with the Irish, now coached by Andy Farrell, preparing to take on Rassie Erasmus\u2019 Springboks in Dublin this Saturday.<\/p>\n
Ireland go into the match having won four of the last five encounters against the Boks. That run includes drawing the two-match series in South Africa in July 2024 when their paths last crossed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s said in an absolute positive manner\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
This track record will leave Farrell, who has recalled Andrew Porter, Josh van de Flier, Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose to this weekend\u2019s starting line-up, with every confidence that his charges have the robustness to overcome the power challenge presented by the Springboks.<\/p>\n
Along with England versus the All Blacks<\/a> and South Africa<\/a> visiting France, this weekend\u2019s Dublin fixture is amongst the most eagerly anticipated matches of the Autumn Nations Series window, and ex-captain Smit is enjoying the latest chapter in a rivalry that has developed at a rate of knots in recent times.<\/p>\n Appearing on the RTE Rugby Podcast<\/a>, Smit said: \u201cRivalries are built around a deep-earned respect for the level of what the opponent brings. That\u2019s for any country. We talk about the rivalries of different generations, but you can always gauge how strong the rivalry is by how much South African fans hate your team. It\u2019s said in an absolute positive manner.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth African fans are psychotic would probably be a diplomatic way of explaining them. You feel this energy when we are playing against Ireland because every single one of the people who are wearing these green and gold jerseys that are watching their team understands there is a real threat of a team that has been at No.1 numerous times over the last couple of years, has beaten them, has beaten the All Blacks<\/a> and has won Six Nations.<\/p>\n Ireland team winners and losers: Andy Farrell backs Prendergast claiming \u2018ability outweighs\u2019 flaws while \u2018under par\u2019 star trusted to batter Springboks<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo all of that leans into the fact that this has always been a big test the last couple of years and is still going to be a big test. I love watching every country\u2019s response when their national teams don\u2019t quite perform the way they do. You look at the absolute panic and pandemonium in New Zealand right now, it\u2019s almost as if the world is about to end.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I saw and read some of the comments around the Irish team after they lost in Chicago<\/a> (to the All Blacks), and it\u2019s amazing how supporters can go absolutely off our heads every time there is a game we believe we should win.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe I guess, as pundits and supporters, that we should win every weekend, whether we are Irish or New Zealanders or South Africans. So it is that fanaticism that creates these massive rivalries because both sides know they can lose and both sides want the actual test to see how much better they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Ireland had the edge over South Africa in a Rugby World Cup pool match 26 months ago, winning 13-8 in Paris before the Springboks rebounded in the knockout stages to retain their title while the Irish were sent packing with a quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks.<\/p>\n Springboks team: Five takeaways including the \u2018ace\u2019 up Rassie Erasmus\u2019 sleeve as Boks go \u2018full-strength\u2019 to end Dublin drought<\/a><\/p>\n Before that elimination, Ireland would have been viewed as a serious threat to South Africa\u2019s title retention chances. Their consistency has since slipped a bit, but Smit insisted that they are still viewed as a major challenge heading into the fourth weekend of the November Test window.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is definitely a view that sees Ireland as the same threat as they were in the World Cup, specifically playing at home,\u201d he said. \u201cWe mentioned something earlier around systems and Irish rugby has got an unbelievable system.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to believe South Africa has got a good system, a turntable of talent that comes through the school system and it\u2019s really about how to get the best out of all this talent that comes out and trying not to miss certain players.<\/p>\n \u201cIreland\u2019s model is brilliant around the four provinces and around how they treat international players from outside of Ireland and limit the amount of guys in each position so that there is always three or four Irish players having the opportunity in each position across the board from one to 15.<\/p>\n Springboks team: Winners and losers as \u2018Bomb Squad founder\u2019 hits \u2018impossible\u2019 milestone while Rassie backs Sacha\u2019s world domination bid<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt started a long time ago and it started producing results quite quickly once that system had been in place for a while and it has been producing some results as it has progressed.<\/p>\n \u201cLike with anything, no coach is going to start off a season saying we have four or five really senior guys retire and it is an opportunity this season to blood some of the youngsters in the mould we have been working over the last decade or so.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like the kiss of death when a coach says, \u2018Don\u2019t judge me in the next four years, just judge me on a World Cup\u2019. Supporters don\u2019t really buy that.<\/p>\n \u201cPerspective for us as pundits or supporters is around seeing the progression or the success of a model that has been working for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is what South Africa sees with Ireland and that is why they remain a threat and that is why Saturday\u2019s game will be such an epic battle and certainly a game that South Africa can lose if they don\u2019t bring their best game forward within those 23 players.<\/p>\n Ireland team: Andy Farrell makes latest big fly-half call for Springboks showdown as star duo return from injury<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe model is one of the most successful. It\u2019s super simple and it\u2019s super effective and it certainly benefits Ireland\u2019s national team and it\u2019s one of the few systems where the tail is wagging the dog. Everything is geared towards making the national team stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been trying to get as close to that as possible. It hasn\u2019t always been the case in South Africa, but I genuinely believe we are as close to that as we have ever been. And Ireland has been in that space for a very long time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a long, convoluted answer to a question that is simple to answer. There was always going to be two Tests on this end-of-year tour for South Africa that had the potential to derail a season and certainly had the potential to not come out with full marks for the tour.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty has been South Africa has been able to blood a few youngsters; they have had some challenges on this tour, they have been able to overcome that, but Saturday is certainly going to be a Test.\u201d<\/p>\n Ex-Ireland forward revisits \u2018unsavoury\u2019 Eben Etzebeth accusations and explains why Sam Prendergast \u2018weakness\u2019 should see Jack Crowley start against the Springboks<\/a><\/p>\n Smit, who spoke for the guts of an hour on the show, also confessed how he opposed head coach Erasmus when he returned from Ireland to take charge of the national team with the plan of wanting to be able to pick overseas-based players for the Springboks.<\/p>\n That was an idea that didn\u2019t sit well with the former front-rower, but the amazing level of success experienced in the Erasmus era has forced Smit to accept that his old-school thinking was wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI have got to take my medicine here because I was on the board of South Africa Rugby for eight years up until March this year and when Rassie came to us as a new coach and asked us to consider allowing players to play overseas, there was an old school me that was against it,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cMy initial thoughts were let\u2019s preserve our local competitions. I can remember playing with Gary Teichmann, Mark Andrews, Ollie Le Roux, Adrian Garvey, Robbie Kempson, Andre Joubert and these guys were senior players finishing their careers and I was a youngster. They sort of became mentors.<\/p>\n