25 September 2019, by: SIBUSISO MJIKELISO in Tokyo.

Springboks & Ireland on course to meet at World Cup for first time

Barring some cataclysmic event, the Springboks and Ireland are cleaning their boots preparing to meet each other in the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup.

It was a clash that felt as if it wasn’t supposed to happen, even here, in Japan, where there was always the possibility of the meeting because of how each team’s respective groups were structured.

But the Springboks left Yokohama Stadium, rightly, feeling they blew a chance to stun the All Blacks and set themselves up a date with Scotland, who were brushed aside by the Irish the following evening.

“You should have beaten the All Blacks!” an Irish fan belted out after disembarking a coach at the Stadium for the Ireland-Scotland encounter. He said it with the conviction of a man who knew that he would get no challengers to his statement.

And there were none. South Africans were quietly and morbidly trying to make sense of the 23-13 result that put them in Ireland’s crosshairs. But none of it made sense.

Ireland and South Africa are the two teams that have always rooted for each other because of their common enemies: England and New Zealand.

The most obvious connection, of course, is the green that each wear proudly. Relations between the two countries are quite cordial. For instance, there is no visa requirement for South Africans to travel to Ireland and vice-versa.

When Ireland beat New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016 – quite comprehensively – the biggest cheer came from the foot of Africa.

Not only had Ireland broken their 111-year wait for a win over the All Blacks in their history, they also broke the 18-match winning streak that the world champions were enjoying.

The All Blacks, after winning back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles, had a sheen of invincibility. They could hardly be touched. Steve Hansen had taken the team so far up the rugby mountain top that it seemed they would disappear out of the sight.

The All Blacks were considered the most dominant team in all of sports – a rating that put them past Micheal Jordan’s 1990s Chicago Bulls, past Steve Waugh’s the Australian cricket team and the West Indians of the 1970s and 1980s.

And so it took a plucky Irish team, at a stadium far, far away from rugby’s traditional homes, to break the stranglehold Hansen and Co. had on the rest of the world.

South Africa, who were given two generous hidings by the All Blacks in 2016 (57-15 at Kings Park) and 2017 (57-0 in Albany), were not in their best shape to build on the momentum that Ireland had sparked. But the cracks were showing.

South Africa came back in 2018 to pull the result of the last decade, by winning in Wellington. Before that Ireland miracle in Chicago, the All Blacks had only lost three matches in five years since 2011 to 2016.

After the result (including the match itself), the All Blacks lost six times in three years, including again to Ireland in Dublin at the end of last year.

It was the turning point and it endeared Ireland to South Africa and South Africa to Ireland. And so when the Springboks dominated 60 of the 80 minutes at Yokohama last Saturday but still failed to come out victorious, it seemed that they had betrayed their own pact: to never let the All Blacks out of jail.

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As a consequence, the two friends who’ve admired each other so much in the past, now have to fight to the death in the quarterfinals. Ireland did their bit and disposed of the Scots but the Boks couldn’t finish the job.

Ireland also play some of the most dominant rugby in the world at the moment. Against Six Nations rivals, Scotland, they showed and accomplished attack and defensive system that will be hard to break.

The Boks, on the other hand, exposed some vulnerabilities. The much-vaunted Jacques Nienaber “banana” defence, which saw Richie Mo’unga exposed the space behind Makazole Mapimpi (for Scott Barrett’s try), will be under heavy scrutiny against Ireland.

In Johnny Sexton, they have an outstanding former World Rugby Player-of-the-Year. He barely misses a kick and hardly misses a beat. His half-back partner Conor Murray is one of the best technical exploits the world has seen.

Rassie Erasmus has a few tricks left up his sleeve, however. He recruited, smartly, Irishman Felix Jones when Swys de Bruin pulled out of the management team.

Jones and Erasmus know each other from their time in Munster. And Jones is credited as having helped shape Joe Schmidt’s defensive structure. The Boks will hope he remembers how to pick those locks when the quarterfinal stages arrive in October.

It will be a fascinating clash, one that each team was hoping to avoid but now they must go to war.

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