Jack Conan: 'South Africa are kind of reinventing the game, it's great to see'

REINVENTING: As South Africa are reinventing the game its is up to Ireland to find a way to overcome them next weekend. Picture: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

Watching Ireland click in to some sort of gear against Australia on Saturday, seven days out from the arrival on these shores of the Springboks’ in-form world champions, was the rugby equivalent of running to make your flight in the nick of time. Far too close for comfort, the sense of relief was palpable.

“You want to be feeling good about yourself,” said Jack Conan. “You want to be coming in next week, a bit of pep in your step, bouncing in and looking forward to reviewing the things that we did well and taking on the chin the things that we could do better, and bringing it all forward into next week again, which is going to be a huge test against South Africa here.” But he made an astute point amid all this.

If the obvious instinct is to view the 46-19 win over the Wallabies through the prism of South Africa, and against the backdrop of worries over declining form, an ageing team and the next World Cup, then it’s important to sit back and drink in the here and now and allow some satisfaction at this job well done. To live and relive the moment.

The Republic of Ireland’s 2-0 win over Portugal emphasised this for the rugby lads. Those not involved against the Aussies were free to go along to the Aviva last Thursday evening, but even the matchday 23 could take lessons from across town and use those positive vibes to reframe what it is they were doing. And trying to do.

Andy Farrell had spoken of the need for his players to ‘get over themselves’, stop ‘feeling sorry for themselves’ and ‘going into themselves’ after the underwhelming win against Japan. Watching the footballers play with such unbridled intensity spoke to them. So did the achievements of the U17s at their World Cup in the Middle East.

“We loved it and, yeah, we talked about riding that wave of momentum,” said Conan.

It was evident on Saturday night. No-one thinks it was perfect, but the Leinster No.8 spoke of an energy that maybe wasn’t there against New Zealand and Japan. This is a team that is renowned for its attention to detail but seeing this bigger picture, reframing something of the joy in it all, seemed to empower them.

“[We were] just getting in our own way a little bit thinking, ‘Oh God, I just made a mistake. I don't want to make another mistake.’ 

“Whereas, so what? Everyone's human, everyone makes mistakes, no matter if you've played 100 times and you're the best player in the world or it's your first cap.

“You're going to make mistakes. It's just the way it is, so just get on with it and kind of forgive yourself and move on and enjoy it and enjoy being part of this group and enjoy putting on the jersey and playing in Chicago and playing here and winning with Ireland. It doesn't get any better.

“So sometimes we're guilty of just kind of… not going through the motions but being a bit harsh on ourselves because, as I said, it's never going to be perfect. It's never perfect no matter what kind of performance you put in. There's always going to be loads of stuff where you look back and think, ‘Fuck, we should have been way better there’.” 

Conan has been impressed – haven’t we all? – by a Bok team that still cherishes pragmatism, regardless of their added dash. They still play in the right areas of the pitch, kick a hell of a lot, and squeeze the opposition into the game so it suits only one side. Exhibit A would be their defeat of the French in Paris.

The onus on Ireland will be to play with a discipline that was lacking too many times against the Aussies, and to bring the same sort of legal aggression and force of will that delivered that famous win against the Boks in the epic World Cup pool game at the Stade de France two years ago.

Conan didn’t play in that one because of injury. His experience of the Boks with Ireland stretches to just a dozen minutes off the bench in the 19-16 win in Dublin back in 2022, but he started three Tests against them with the British and Irish Lions the following summer. He knows what’s coming.

“Like, you're playing South Africa and it's no shock that they're unbelievably physical, is it? The squad that they pick and the way Rassie [Erasmus] goes about picking his bench and you see [André] Esterhuizen playing in the back row and all this. They're kind of reinventing the game a little bit and it's great to see.

“But if you're shy in the contacts with them they're going to have a field day. So it’s something we’ll talk about as the week goes on and how good they are in setpiece - lineout and scrum. You see how they've gone in the last two weeks getting two red cards and it's not bothered them at all.”