Former captain and current Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell says Ireland are paying no attention to the bait laid down by Rassie Erasmus in the build-up to the first Test of the series on Saturday.
Erasmus named an experienced Springbok lineup to face Ireland in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld, during a jovial press conference in Pretoria.
The Bok coach resisted continuing any talk of “unfinished business” or revenge, but did hint that he could make a late change to the lineup and unleash a seven-one split between replacement forwards and backs, depending on injuries in the camp.
However, O’Connell, who is part of Andy Farrell’s squad as forwards coach, is not allowing himself to get sucked into a war of words with the Springboks.
“I haven’t found it unusual, if we won the World Cup we probably would have been asked to go on a few podcasts as well,” said O’Connell. “No one wants us to go on it.
“It is what it is. I come across bits and pieces of it. We haven’t spoken about it a lot. We never tend to do around this kind of thing. It tends to become a reaction.
“If you are a head coach as long as Rassie is, you have to figure out a way to enjoy doing the media stuff. He seems to enjoy it and he’s good at it. We haven’t paid a lot of attention to it.”
Captain of the British & Irish Lions in the 2009 tour of South Africa, O’Connell said Ireland respected the Springboks and marveled at the home side’s continuity, as they named 20 World Cup winners in their lineup.
“I got a quick glance at their team,” O’Connell said. “It’s a big thing for any team that is successful, is the kind of continuity the Boks have.
“You look at any of the club sides that have been successful in recent times, they have continuity of coaching, continuity of players, continuity of leadership. They are in a strong position and it is an excellent side that they have named.
“We have been a little bit specific about them, but it has been mainly about doing our stuff a little bit better across the board. The boys enjoy doing that, we enjoy focusing on ourselves.
“I think you have to focus on what the opposition are going to do, but by and large we focus on ourselves a little bit more than we did back in my playing days. I certainly enjoy it as a coach as well.”
Continuing in his role as the good cop, O’Connell hailed the impact that South Africa has had on the club scene with the Vodacom URC.
“South African teams have been a brilliant addition [to the URC] in terms of … they play differently,” said O’Connell. “They all play differently but they all have that certain South African identity as well, especially around set piece, maul and scrum.
“That has been really good for our players. They have learnt to deal with that challenge, to have to train and prepare for it every week. They bring a certain amount of that intelligence into our camp when we come together.
“Playing the South African teams is what the European Cup gave us at the start when we played French and English teams,” O’Connell added. “It helped us realise what the standard was.
“It has raised the standard of the URC massively. It’s probably tough spending more time away from home; when you play in France or England you are probably away for a day or two.
“A lot of the provinces have enjoyed when they have had to go down to South Africa for two weeks, they almost become like an international side.
“They stay in a hotel for two weeks and they get to do a lot of work with the players rather than the players going home in the evening.
“I know a lot of the provinces have gotten benefit from that. Any time there is good coaching and improvements happening in the provinces it always bleeds into us and helps us.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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