Series win over Ireland would be special for South Africa — Rassie Erasmus

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said that a two-nil series win over Ireland would be special for the entire country, ahead of the second and final Test between the top two sides in the world at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.

The current Bok coaching and playing group finally broke their Irish hoodoo in Pretoria over the past weekend, when they walked away with a 27-20 win, their first over them since they came together back in 2018.

At the Bok team announcement presser on Tuesday afternoon, Erasmus was quizzed on whether it would be a special moment for him to get a series win over Ireland, but responded that it was bigger than just him.

“Since being together as a group we lost to them in close games, two of them being away and once at the World Cup. So they clearly had our number. And this past weekend if they had kept the ball alive in the last play it could have been a draw,” explained Erasmus.

“When we play against the All Blacks or Wales it is nice to win. But with Ireland they have certainly been peaking in recent years. They have ruled the Six Nations and have been developing world class players constantly.

“We know every single time when we go up against them it is going to be a very tight match. So if we do manage to make it 2-0 (this weekend) it wouldn’t only be satisfactory for me, but for the team and South Africa as a whole, especially because of how many times they have beaten us recently.”

Most experienced

Erasmus named an unchanged match 23 for the game, with it also being the most experienced Bok starting XV ever put out with a whopping 990 caps, eclipsing the 987 caps that the Boks ran on with in the World Cup final against the All Blacks last year.

“We hoped that everybody would be injury free. There are always a few niggles and bumps and bruises after a game like that (the first Test). But we always wanted to play the same team two games in a row,” said Erasmus.

“Some of the guys returning from injury, like Lukhanyo Am and Canan Moodie, we hope to give them some game time (next week) against Portugal. But now we are trying to build some momentum and we were able to name an unchanged match 23.”

Pressed on whether he had given any thought to giving some of the more inexperienced players in the Bok squad a chance, Erasmus said that they still had plenty of time to do that ahead of the next World Cup in 2027.

“We are trying to give the guys who can still play at the highest level games until they can’t anymore, and then get succession planning in place for when we strike the World Cup in 2027. But for now our first aim is to get momentum,” said Erasmus.