Easterby believes 'fabulous coach' Tony Brown has done 'brilliant job' of developing Springboks attack
Former All Blacks 10 Tony Brown joined the South Africa coaching staff in early 2024. Pic: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Whichever way you view the next visitors to Aviva Stadium, be it as back-to-back world champions, the best current team in Test rugby or simply perennial heavyweight rivals, South Africa offer Ireland the yardstick against which they will judge themselves when the international window shuts on Saturday night.
It is 16 months since Andy Farrell’s squad left Durban with a 1-1 series draw on South African soil, having secured a fourth victory in the last five meetings with the Springboks since 2017. A lot has happened since those 2024 matches, and that 25-24 second Test win at King’s Park secured by the drop goal heroics of Ciaran Frawley with the two sides arguably going their separate ways from that middle ground of equality.
Ireland were outclassed in their next outing, at home to New Zealand, and their bid for a hat-trick of Six Nations titles fell short last spring while Rassie Erasmus’s team have gone from strength to strength, with back-to-back Rugby Championships and, currently, an all-conquering end of year European tour which has seen them concede a first-half red card in each of their last two matches and still emerge victorious over France and Italy.
So whichever way you frame it, this Saturday’s Quilter Nations Series finale represents the acid test of Ireland’s status among world rugby’s elite and their rivals the heights to which they aspire. Ireland defence coach Simon Easterby acknowledged as much as preparations began in earnest on Tuesday.
“I think just playing the Springboks, we obviously went to South Africa and played against them last summer and it was a brilliant tour, it's a shame there wasn't a third game but we don't get to play against South Africa as much as we'd like and other teams from the southern Hemisphere,” Easterby said.
“I think our next meeting will be a year's time in November, so yeah, there's motivation without doubt but it's not necessarily because they're world champions. It's because they're the number one team currently in the world and we want to match ourselves and better that team.”
Ireland will go into Saturday’s Test with momentum gathering following a 46-19 victory over Australia last Saturday which highlighted the continuing improvement made this month from the starting point of a disappointing defeat to the All Blacks in Chicago on November 1. They rebounded with a 41-10 win over Japan on home soil that was in spite of a disjointed and error-strewn first half before the Brave Blossoms wilted after the interval. And a week later, Mack Hansen’s first-half hat-trick against the Wallabies was followed by three second-half tries from captain Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Robbie Henshaw to deliver a record victory for Ireland over the Australians.
Easterby agreed Ireland had more steps to climb if they were to finish November on a winning note against their most difficult opponents yet.
“I think we're always striving to find improvement and get better each week. And the longer we stay together, I think the more we become accustomed to the style of play and how we defend and how we attack and all the combinations that we have in the squad that maybe you don't have when you're new into the camp at the beginning of November.
“So I think that's a constant, we want to keep getting better and keep driving the team, keep building depth but certainly keep driving the performance.”
The concession of three tries to Australia has given the defence coach plenty of material for his coaching sessions this week and he added: “We're constantly striving to minimise the impact of indiscipline, maybe losing a few moments, it might be not backing up errors or not backing up negative momentum and I guess that's the challenge of international rugby; you get away with it maybe in club competitions, you don't get away with it in international rugby, whoever you play.
“So, we're fully aware that we need to make sure that we're not offering South Africa opportunities to get access because they have the ability to hurt teams, as you say, but it's no different week to week, whoever we play.
“We're constantly striving to be disciplined, to make sure that we're playing on the edge but not over the edge.”
Easterby said of the Springboks: “I think they've always had pretty good athletes and they've always had, I guess whoever plays at 10, it slightly changes the dynamics of their team a little bit but real quality at centre, quality at nine, massive threats on the edges and at 15.
“I think (South Africa assistant coach) Tony Brown has done a brilliant job at developing their attack and driving a slightly different system to what they had maybe two years ago and I think he's a fabulous coach but I think ultimately they still work to a formula of working hard and trying to out-muscle teams.
“And they'll certainly have things up their sleeve I'm sure that we won't have seen and we need to prepare for, but again that's a bit of an excitement and a challenge that the lads are really keen to put themselves under that pressure and the expectation of us playing at home, finishing off the November series in a positive manner.
“It doesn't come any bigger than the challenge that they would pose us as a defensive team.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
