Boks have plenty of scores to settle
But there’s a lot more to this game than that. In a recently published book, Springbok captain John Smit claimed an unnamed “senior Irish player” was responsible for the refusal of the Lions to join his side for a beer after the Test matches last summer. If it was a “crime” on the parts of the Lions to delay socialising with the opposition until the end of the series, then it was one of minor proportions and Smit must have been stuck for something controversial to include and certainly made a mountain out of a molehill.
As David Wallace put it succinctly this week: “It was just somebody trying to sell books”.
Moreover, Smit was a lot less committal when it came to discussing Schalk Burger’s eye gouging on Luke Fitzgerald. His attitude and that of coach Pieter de Villiers left a sour taste in Lions’ mouths and especially those of the Irish contingent, 11 of whom are involved in today’s game.
Then there’s the rivalry between Ireland and South Africa that has become quite tense in the past decade or so.
This has a lot to do with the fact that Ireland won the last two meetings of the sides at Lansdowne Road, by 17-12 in 2004 and 32-15 two years later. They’ll be all out for a hat-trick on Saturday and after all their experience of the venue over the past couple of years, will feel perfectly at home at Croke Park this time round.
There is a feeling abroad that while Ireland will be up for this one like no other, the Springboks would like nothing better than to go home at the end of a long season. Recent results and performances would support this point of view but it is hard to believe that the tourists will be anything but competitive once the gun goes at 2.30pm.
Many South African memories of the last two encounters are too fresh to allow it to be otherwise. Although he claims his words were misinterpreted, the then Springbok coach Jake White made a verbal howler prior to the ‘04 encounter when suggesting that only two or three Irish players would get into his side. Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan and his players used his words as a massive motivational factor and the rest is history.
White went on to coach South Africa to World Cup glory in 2007 but in his autobiography he laid heavy emphasis on that week in Dublin three years earlier.
He claims that he was “suckered into a question. I gave it a little thought before answering, ‘your lock pairing is one of the best in the world and Brian O’Driscoll picks himself in any team.’
And I left it at that. The next day, the headline was, ‘Coach says only three Irish players good enough to make the Springbok team.’ I was stitched up.”
White insists that was only one factor in his side’s defeat. The other was the New Zealand referee Paul Honiss, who, the Boks claimed, allowed Ronan O’Gara take a quick tap penalty and dart unchallenged to the line as Smit and his players huddled together for a chat.
“I was appalled”, says White. “That was poor refereeing by Honiss and he acknowledged it some time later.
“Back at the hotel, a few Irish supporters shouted out, ‘only three players good enough to play for the Boks, hey?’ I just kept walking. There was no point in engaging them after an afternoon that had likely included many celebratory pints of Guinness.”
Former coach O’Sullivan isn’t spared with White stating that “he accused me of having no respect for Irish rugby because of my skewed comments. That hurt. Willie John McBride, Fergus Slattery, Syd Millar and Noel Murphy are Irish legends I grew up worshipping. I saw O’Sullivan at the after-match function but I didn’t go out of my way to greet him.
“Some of his players were disrespectful as well. That’s not how professionals handle themselves.
“So I certainly don’t exchange Christmas cards with O’Sullivan.”
Two years later, White hadn’t forgotten the rumpus his words caused. And neither had the Irish media.
“It came up at a presser and I knew it would, I was expecting it,” recalled White.
“An Irish hack surreptitiously chucked it in.” He got over that hurdle and even went so far as to praise us for the way we handle our rugby affairs: “They nurture their players and give them tax rebates for not playing overseas when they retire.”
The weather was pretty grim for that encounter and as White saw it, the Irish were again up for a bit of gamesmanship: “We let Ireland make a good start but we got deep in their half for a few minutes. We should have scored but they collapsed three line-outs in a row.”
And wouldn’t you know… the wind that backed Ireland in the first half died in the second!
“Murphy’s Law has its origins in an Irish saying, we had won a toss we thought would be really important and didn’t get the return”, he said.
But he did acknowledge: “We played against a good Irish team with O’Gara producing a wonderful exhibition of fly-half play in those conditions.
“He kicked us into corners and used the wind brilliantly.”
A repeat this time round from Jonny Sexton – and Rog should he come on – would do just nicely!
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