Johannesburg – The last time Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber were at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin they were paying fans in the stands, and it was the unfolding horror of seeing the once-proud Springboks shuffling about cluelessly that panged their national conscience into doing something about it.
That was 2017, and Erasmus and Nienaber had been coaching Munster not too far down the drag from Dublin. The score-line was 38-3 and it was the death knell for Allister Coetzee. Three weeks later he was sacked and Erasmus answered the SOS from SA Rugby.
Just this week, Erasmus said that while watching that horror show in 2017, he was convinced that South Africa had the players but obviously not the direction, and it is fact that 18 months later, the nucleus of that team that lost hopelessly in Dublin lifted the Webb Ellis Cup.
If you look at the Bok line-up that lost 38-3 — having incurred scathing criticism from the Irish commentators (“how utterly awful are South Africa”) — you will not believe your eyes.
The pack that played that day contained the following players who will be back at the scene of the crime on Saturday (7.30pm): Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi, Franco Mostert and Steven Kitshoff.
The backline five years ago pales in comparison and only the midfield of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel survive, but with the forwards mentioned above, the Boks should never have got such a “proper hiding”, as Rassie called it on Thursday.
Rassie sorted it out in spectacular fashion and now his team is back at the Aviva Stadium as world champions, but they know better than anyone that this time next year they will have to be even better if they are to defend their crown.
And playing the team ranked No 1 in the world on their home turf will give the Boks a gauge of just how much work lies ahead.
During the year, they showed in passages that they can go all the way in Paris next year — the earth-shattering performance against the All Blacks in Nelspruit and the walloping of the Wallabies in Sydney spring to mind — but the Boks are notoriously inconsistent, and to win a World Cup you generally need to win seven games in seven weeks.
This four-match tour has to be all about consistent performances in all four tour matches, even if every result does not go their way — beating Ireland, France and England at home is a tough ask.
On Saturday, the world champions versus World Rugby’s No 1 team is a marketing dream, but it was interesting to hear Johnny Sexton say on Monday that Ireland couldn’t care less about being top of the rankings pile.
Everybody wants to win a World Cup, Sexton said, and how you play between World Cups is about getting you ready to win the event.
He is dead right. When the All Blacks failed at the 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2019 World Cups, not one Kiwi gave a damn that they had been the No 1 ranked team in the world on all of those occasions.
It is indeed all about the World Cup, rightly or wrongly, and on Saturday in Dublin the road to France ‘23 starts in earnest for the two teams on show, and when the Boks return home at the end of November, we will know just how well equipped they are to go all the way next year.
Springboks: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan 14 Robert Baloucoune 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Mack Hansen 10 Johnny Sexton 9 Conor Murray 8 Caelan Doris 7 Josh van der Flier 6 Peter O’Mahony 5 James Ryan 4 Tadhg Beirne 3 Tadhg Furlong 2 Dan Sheehan 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring 17 Cian Healy 18 Finlay Bealham 19 Kieran Treadwell 20.. Jack Conan 21 Jamison Gibson Park 22 Joey Carbery 23 Stuart McCloskey
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