O'Connell vows Ireland will stay on even keel ahead of best in class Boks

EVEN KEEL: Forwards Coach Paul O'Connell vows that Ireland will stay on an even keel ahead of the Boks clash. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Paul O’Connell has backed Ireland’s players to stay on an even keel as they prepare for their pivotal World Cup pool showdown with defending champions South Africa in Paris on Saturday night.

There is little point in the Irish camp denying that this third game in Pool B is anything but a titanic clash, pitting the world number one and Six Nations Grand Slam winners against the 2019 World Cup winners and second-ranked Springboks under the lights at a sold-out Stade de France this weekend.

Each side have two wins from two at the tournament so far with Jacques Nienaber’s team continuing their blistering summer form and their 35-7 demolition of New Zealand at Twickenham on August 25. The South Africans overcame Scotland 18-3 on the opening weekend in Marseille and then whitewashed pool minnows Romania 76-0 in Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon.

Ireland, on the other hand, have been gathering impressive momentum since their arrival on French soil on September 1. Following a winning summer series of wins over Italy, England and Samoa, Andy Farrell’s men have hit the ground running in France, running in 12 tries past the hapless Romanians in an Irish record-breaking 82-8 rout at Stade de Bordeaux on September 9 before moving through the gears to overcome the potentially tricky obstacle of Tonga in Nantes last Saturday night in an outstanding 59-16 victory at Stade de la Beaujoire.

All of which tees up a blockbuster main event in Saint Denis this Saturday night though forwards coach O’Connell believes his players will manage to keep emotions at the right pitch and not get sucked into the now fevered anticipation of the match.

“It’s a massive game,” O’Connell acknowledged, “but I suppose one of the good things about us is we haven’t treated any game too differently.

“I think naturally the fact it’s South Africa, the fact that they’re world champions, the fact they’re playing so well, the fact there’s so much of a spotlight on it, this will become a bigger game.

“But I would imagine the working week, the preparation, won’t be too different from what it’s been the last few weeks. I suppose that’s one of the strengths the lads have in terms of how they go about their business.” 

The most admirable aspect of the Tongan win by eight tries to one was the return of an efficient and effective lineout, with five of those tries coming off either first- or second-phase plays from touch.

After a pre-season of teething problems and some shaky moments in the opening win over Romania, it all clicked for O’Connell’s forwards in Nantes as Ireland reclaimed the set-piece platform that has proven so vital to their success of recent seasons.

The Irish pack was particularly pleased with the second try, a rolling maul finished by No.8 Caelan Doris that had seen man of the match and two-try scorer Bundee Aki join an eight-man lineout and drive.

“Yeah, it was great,” O’Connell said. “It was something the lads identified that Tonga stay down in a lot of their D and they hit you quite hard at the start, so we just transferred it. And we had Bundee in there as well adding a little bit of weight to the maul. It’s always great.

“It’s hard to score maul tries in international rugby. It’s a tricky thing to do. To be able to go to the corner and be able to grab one of those in a game is always excellent.

“You’re building generally when you end up five metres from the line. It’s on the back of a penalty already. You’ve already created something, so to be able to go to the corner and score something is great.” 

Of the overall performance against Tonga, O’Connell added: “I think a lot of the things we had prepared maybe worked, and we scored a few good tries off first or second phase, which is always great and always satisfying.

“I think the guys weathered the storm well. We got out the wrong side of the penalty count either side of half time and as you saw in the big games last weekend, when that happens you can struggle in these games.

“But they weathered the storm really well. We got back to 15 men and the boys did a really good job of keeping Tonga out of the game, and keeping their danger men out of the game, by playing our game really well.” 

Ireland are, however, under no illusions that their biggest challenge since the ultimately successful 2022 tour to New Zealand is just days away and for O’Connell that certainly includes a best in class Springbok lineout defence, with or without injury South African doubt Eben Etzebeth.

“Yeah, they’re probably the best in the world. They’re pretty good, they’re pretty good, so it’ll be a good challenge.”