Springboks already hailing the influence of Felix Jones

Japan will be different to anything we have seen before.

This was the promise the International Rugby Board made 10 years ago when it was decided to take the showpiece event beyond the game’s traditional borders for a change.

We’re still two days out from the opening game but Japan has already delivered on that score.

Making South Africa’s press conference in Tokyo Bay yesterday necessitated a monorail journey through Disneyland on what was, literally, a Mickey Mouse carriage.

And all this to talk about an Irishman whose belated invite onto the Springbok staff caused the Kiwi Joe Schmidt so much consternation when it was announced just late last month.

It really is a small world.

The Ireland head coach was open about the risk that Felix Jones, who had spent time on Ireland’s tour of the USA and Japan two years ago, could debrief Rassie Erasmus and the rest of his staff about an Irish team and system which he knows all too well.

Assistant Bok coach Mzwandile Stick didn’t do anything to dissuade him of that here.

Stick spoke specifically about Jones’ knowledge of the European sides and of his excellent relationships with certain Kiwi coaches.

Clearly he is a handyman to have around given South Africa kick off their pool against the All Blacks on Saturday and could end up facing Ireland in a quarter-final.

Erasmus said last month that Jones, brought in to offset the sudden loss to the staff of attack coach Swys De Bruin, would be employed as a defence consultant and yet Stick honed in on the influence the former Munster assistant wielded on the side’s attack and the benefits it earned in their 41-7 defeat of the Japanese last Friday.

“So, he has really contributed a lot in a short space of time,” said Stick. “You saw in the game played against Japan the opportunities we had and we managed to capitalise on them and it was because of his contribution also that is adding value on our side.”

The Dubliner isn’t the only man with international experience to add to the Boks’ database. Seven of the 31-man squad are based in England or France and Willie Le Roux plays for Toyota Verblitz here in Japan. Faf de Klerk, the Sale Sharks scrum-half, agrees that this cosmopolitan mix can marry well with the side’s heavy sense of tradition.

“Hopefully the guys from overseas can add value. The more teams you get to watch, to play against you get ideas and a feel for how a guys plays.

“For me, I know a lot of the England players now and I can sum them up a bit better, so there’s definitely advantages to that. It’s about doing our homework on the guys that we don’t know and keep on working hard.”

Jones’s addition to the management group has been a positive and timely counterpoint to the loss of De Bruin for personal reasons, allegations of racial assault against Eben Etzebeth, which he denies, and Aphewi Dyantyi’s positive test for a banned substance, which the winger is contesting with a request to have his B sample analysed.

Racial issues and drugs have both long been thorns in the side of South African rugby but a press conference that was splattered with laughter and bonhomie turned serious when Du Toit was asked if all these off-field distractions had made it difficult for the squad to prepare for their huge opener.

“Any distractions we will just try to put behind us,” said the 27-year old flanker. And yet the Boks were quick to throw their own spanner into the works when Stick answered a tame opening question about the week so far with an open request for match officials to “respect the game” now that the gap between the Boks and the All Blacks is nothing like it was.

The inference was obvious as he rambled on about the advances made by the top northern hemisphere teams and the difficulty in choosing a winner from among the top five teams in the world: no more special treatment for the Kiwis. Jerome Garces’, who referees their Pool B clash in Yokohama, must have felt his ears burning at the time.

“It’s been a proper build-up to this World Cup,” said the Bok assistant. “Hopefully the officials will treat every team equally and respect the game and also the fans.”