Andy Farrell: Ireland must deal with revitalised Springboks

The Springboks are back with a bang and Andy Farrell believes Ireland had better learn to deal with them if they are to claim history for themselves and secure a series victory at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today.

The defence coach, who had seen his new charges perform heroics to see out an opening Test victory with only 14 men in Cape Town a fortnight ago, watched the real South Africa finally appear in the last quarter of last week’s second Test. Allister Coetzee’s team emerged from their early season slump, woke up and found they were staring a humiliating home series defeat in the face. The result was a 20- minute bombardment of shock and awe that wrought havoc with a tiring Irish team at Ellis Park.

So heading into this evening’s series decider by the Indian Ocean, Farrell is expecting more of the same powerhouse rugby from the Springboks and has demanded his players deal with that or face a long evening getting the same bulldozer treatment they suffered last week.