Ireland will face South Africa at the Autumn Nations Series match in Dublin on Saturday as underdogs. However, recent history indicates that things may not be straightforward for the Springboks.
The French Six Nations champions were beaten by the England in Paris, a game they had appeared dead in.
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South Africa won a thrilling match against France in Paris, two weeks ago, despite Lood de Jager’s red card at the 38th minute.
Ireland’s autumn has been inconsistent. Ireland started off with a 26-13 defeat in Chicago after an early Tadhg beirne yellow card. Then, they won a scrappy 41-10 victory in Dublin before they smashed Australia 46-19.
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Mack Hansen, a full-back from Ireland, scored a hat-trick in the first half of their record-breaking win against Australia last week
South Africa is considered the best team in the world, but they are not the only one. They have lost home matches to Australia and the Wallabies twice, as well as to the All Blacks.
While there were some questions during the Rugby Championships, the Autumn was a display of talent and power.
Ireland has been South Africa’s bogey side in many ways. Ireland is in many ways South Africa’s arch-enemy. The Irish have won four of the last five Tests between them.
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Ireland won the series 1-1 in the last encounter between the two sides.
The wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024 were part of an 17-Test win streak that made Ireland the world’s No. 1 team and World Cup favorites in France. However, Andy Farrell and his side are far from those levels and must fight off the notions they are in decline. It’s perfectly positioned.
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South Africa’s sole victory over Ireland in five recent meetings occurred in Pretoria 2024
“Ireland must improve their physicality if they want to have any chance.” Simon Easterby, Ireland’s defence coach, spoke to the media this week. He was not under any illusions about the challenges that lie ahead:”We will certainly take positives from (Australia’s) game but we also understand that we need to improve each week. I think we’ve done that throughout the series of three matches so far, and this weekend, we’ll be doing the same thing against South Africa,” Easterby stated.You know that there are strengths and weaknesses that the other teams lack. We need to work on both.This includes our physicality and our ability to stop teams scoring tries once they enter our 22. We weren’t that good at it on the weekend.
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Ireland’s dominant win over Australia was a morale booster, but Springboks have a much more difficult task.
“I think other factors should be considered in this series, such as the difficulties of traveling to Chicago, the time spent away, the loss, and the building of resilience within the team.It’s not going to always be perfect. You’re not going have your way all the time.South Africa is the perfect opportunity to put into action the things that have been discussed in our group.”In terms Ireland’s squad: Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey, who is a key player, will be out due to an injury to his groin. But flanker Josh van der Flier as well as centre Garry Ringrose, should be back following hamstring complaints.
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Easterby said, “It was a great weekend for them in terms they were able to get through their rehab. They’ve been on the ball this week.””The mood has been really good, and the lads trained well today,” said Easterby.
2025-11-19 13:09:00
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