Yeah, I think exactly the same, by far and away my most disliked team in world rugby (apart from England). Always had a soft spot growing up for the All Blacks, and always felt the exact opposite about the South Africans.
The game he mentions, from 2017, where we beat them 38-3 in the Aviva, and he says he felt disrespected by the Irish media afterwards for example, was an absolute and utter humiliation for them. It basically got Alister Coetzee sacked, and while they had some rotation that day, they still had a lot of quality on the field too including De Allende, Malcolm Marx, Tendai Mtawarira, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Siya Kolisi, PSDT, Bongi, Kitshoff, Pollard, Mostert etc.
Slating that team for getting hammered like that is absolutely fair game, and I imagine they took enormous grief from their own press for the exact same performance.
Seems to be obvious that SA are fearful of Ireland and want to play it out in the media before we get to the games.
Rassie was up to all sorts before and during the Lions and we seem to be getting the same now, losing the series at home is something SA don't want so expect a lot of this sh*t to come out over the next few weeks
"He must have lived under a rock in his time in Ireland, because he also says he thinks Irish people aren't emotional and that impacts them in big moments."
'Posh robots' as the Molecast described them.
It's standard fare from South Africa at this stage. Erasmus whips his players up to a frenzy and he generally gets the desired response on the pitch.
I prefer that the players are leading the media approach and only targeting the Irish media/player attitude in Etzebeth's case.
Erasmus attacking referees through the media a few years ago remains a low point in rugby's recent history. Wayne Barnes received death threats from South African fans after Erasmus lashed out at him. He really should have resulted in a much longer ban.
F**k me we live so deep in South Africa's head at this point its not even funny 😂
It does have to be said back in 2017 that SA sides wasnt THAT great. It looks amazing now ofcourse but it does need to be remembered alot of the players in that side didnt reach the levels we think of them now until Erasmus took over. I remember back then at the time I honestly would have only taken Marx & Etzebeth in an Irish XV and at that time it wasnt even a wild statement to make when you consider how SA had been playing, obviously ask that same question 2 years later and you'd get a very different response if I picked a combined side.
The SA side in 2017 really was rubbish and deserves all the criticism that was levelled at them. They lost 57-0 to New Zealand two months prior Ireland thrashing them 38-3.
I'd say this for the SA players though - There is generally no BS with them on the field. They seem like straight up great competitors.
I also cant stand seeing them win, but only for one reason. Erasmus.
I don't recall any of the Springbok players talking nonsense about Ireland before.
Since then won 2 world cups. Ireland have not won a match of any importance at a world cup. Goes to show how unimportant these matches are.
I dunno if that's necessarily true, but even if it was, all the more reason why they deserved to be slated in the press as they evidently weren't playing to the best of their abilities.
But the 23 they picked that day had 525 caps of experience in it (versus 645 in the Irish side), and some of their key guys were well into their international careers (De Allende - 27 caps, Mtawarira - 95 caps, Etzebeth - 63 caps, De Jager - 32 caps, Kolisi - 25 caps, PSTD - 29 caps etc). Similar numbers for guys like Pollard, Bongi, Kitshoff etc.
The Irish side was pretty callow on the day too - we had Bundee on debut, Sweetnam uncapped on the bench, and the 23 had Conway - 3 caps, Stockdale - 2 caps, Rob Herring - 1 cap, James Ryan - 2 caps and Joey Carbery - 4 caps in the squad too.
It is, you can't underestimate just how poor most of these players looked under Coetzee and a good portion of them started their career or played a large portion of their career under him. Yes they had a decent number of caps but they had shown very little at test level to show they were top players, only Marx and Etzebeth really. When Erasmus came in he was able to unlock a lot of the potential these players had such as Kolisi, Mbonambi, de Allende etc plus players like PSDT, Kitshoff really kicked on over the next 2 years. Obviously you also had players like Pollard and Lood de Jager who looked really good but they didnt look like star test players at that point and were probably at best 50/50 with their opposite Irish player.
Yes true it did but you have to factor in the SA opposite number looked like complete journeymen for the most part, the SA back 3 was a joke tbf and not within an asses roar of test rugby, so someone like Stockdale/Conway being callow wasnt seen as much of a weakness.
With Henderson and Ahern out and Moloney leaving Leinster does Cormac Izuchukwu make the squad as a 4th lock/blindside hybrid
I hope so!
He's probably nudged ahead of Murray in any case and with Treadwell and Edogbo injured (neither hybrids, granted) he's certainly putting his hand up.
While not the stron gest lad, nor the most physical, Izzy to me is similar to Ahern, both athletic and unorthodox. Gangly but good! I can't find the right words. HELP
The first time I saw him I thought of Nakarawa.
The Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa has been confirmed. The last one was a great success so I'm interested in seeing who we bring this time round.
western force??
interesting they are bring an Aussie super rugby team over to SA to play an Ireland A side??
also a possibility to tap up Ruan Pienaar to return to our green shores as coach….
Is Easterby not coaching Ireland for the AIs? He'll be missing the Leinster vs Munster interpro during this tour. Not the end of the world, but still…
Farrell's sabbatical only starts after the AI's I believe.
Looking forward to that EI tour, they're decent opposition at least. Three matches in eight days means we'll need a large enough squad which may generate some discussion here…
Yeah thats correct, he just misses the 6 nations
Ah ok, that's fine then.
I'm still not conceptually a fan of these tours but it is what it is. Will be curious to see the squad.
Ooof the Munster talking heads on twitter really don't like this tour, do they enjoy anything about Irish Rugby at this point?
ah youre better off not even giving those idiots any views at all, everything they say is doom laden when it comes to the IRFU. They are not ireland rugby fans at all, only parochial one eyed.
Fair play make this provincial. It's not only Munster fans not in favour of the timing but if you look for something to be outraged at, you'll find it. Once you find it then you can take it elsewhere to show your outrage
Its more a curiosity that the 3 or 4 largest twitter accounts parrot non-stop negativity, wasn't having a go at anyone here.
Too busy posting daily about Munster being URC champs. Relishing the prospect of softening their cough
Largest Twitter accounts 😂
Definitely looking for something to be outraged by
MOD: Munster twitter accounts is not the topic of the thread
Just not a big fan of this when it's outside the Test window and impacts some inter-pro's, at a time when we finally have a quality domestic league…
Anyways, lets see who's picked and at least this time round, the Provinces have a lot more notice, so have more time to plan around it.
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