Nick Mallett believes Saturday’s showdown in Dublin is the Springboks’ toughest assignment of their year-end tour.
The former Bok coach warns that Ireland remain the one side who consistently trouble Rassie Erasmus’ world champions.
Writing in his News24 column, Mallett underlined how Ireland have held the upper hand in recent years.
“Ireland are the one team that, during Rassie Erasmus’ tenure as coach, have had a better win-loss ratio against the Boks,” he said. “This statistic will be frustrating for the world champions, who haven’t won in Dublin since 2012.”
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Mallett pointed back to last year’s brutal second Test in Durban as evidence of what awaits the Boks.
“That first half was one of the hardest 40 minutes of Test match rugby I think I’ve ever witnessed,” he wrote. “It was all legitimate, but they were unbelievably powerful in the carry and in defence.”
Ireland’s ability to out-think and out-execute opponents, particularly close to the tryline, is central to Mallett’s analysis.
“They’re a very clever team in the way that they can play on the advantage line with short passes to hard runners, as well playing out the back to a deeper backline player who can then move the point of attack,” he said.
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Mallett used Mack Hansen’s tries against Australia as a perfect illustration.
“They can hammer you on the line, but they have the ability to move it three or four defenders wider in a split second,” he noted. “So, close to your tryline, your defence has to be really intelligent and spot on.”
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