Buoyed by their storming start to the World Cup, the Irish camp are now relishing the daunting prospect of facing the world champions in Paris on Saturday evening.
South Africa rested their front lines for Sunday’s clash with Romania, with their attention consumed by the challenge from Andy Farrell’s men.
But fresh from an eight-try defeat to Tonga in Nantes on Saturday evening, the Irish side are banking on the benefits of two crushing displays of intent that have seen 20 tries in a week.
The challenge that awaits at the Stade de France could define their entire tournament, but attack coach Mike Catt said on Sunday that the experience of withstanding Tonga’s limited but painful challenge should be valuable as they prepare for the most physical and aggressive opposition in the world.
“I thought the performance last night was really good against a big, physical side, and that big, physical side is coming again this weekend,” said Catt, shortly before the Irish team departed for their league base in Tours.
Mike Catt admitted Ireland was in a good place as it prepares for titanic conflict with South Africa
The attacking coach will have been happy that his side have already scored 20 tries in two games
There they will prepare before moving to Paris on Thursday morning.
“South Africa is a world-class team and they have a great team. Many of them will be rested (for the match against Romania); they have a two week lead up to our game.
“That’s why we play the game, that’s why we want to play these games in big leagues, and I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position to be competitive.”
The Irish camp provided no update on Finlay Bealham following his removal following a blow to the head against Tonga, and it remains unclear whether he will undergo a return-to-play protocol. His fitness should be cleared up in the next 24 hours, and his absence from the matchday squad would be significant given how well he has failed to study Tadhg Furlong, and the enormous challenge posed by South Africa’s front row, and then their celebrated ‘Explosive Ordnance Disposal’.
Confidence that Dan Sheehan will be fit remains high, and if he is ready to go, Andy Farrell will find it hard to resist putting him back in the team. “We’re pretty confident he’ll be available for selection on Saturday,” Catt said.
While South Africa’s game plan inevitably evolves from their fearsome forward strength, the more nuanced attacking patterns they revealed in New Zealand’s warm-up suggest a more comprehensive threat than is traditional among the Springbok sides.
“They’re playing some great rugby at the moment,” Catt said. “There’s a really good mix of their physicality and their directness, (and then) their ability to move the ball.
‘I think that with Manie Libbok at the age of ten, Damian Willemse at the age of fifteen and Willie le Roux, the ball will certainly pass through the hands more often and cause problems, big problems, for many teams.
South Africa pose a slightly less traditional, extended threat by throwing the ball through their hands into the backline
Finlay Bealham’s blow to the head against Tonga is the only real selection problem facing Andy Farrell’s side
“We are well aware of it, but you still have to stop it.”
Getting through the first two rounds with possibly Bealham the only new injury concern provides the kind of fitness bulletin that Farrell and his coaches had dreamed of before the World Cup got underway.
“We’re in a good place,” Catt acknowledged. “We are in a good place as far as injuries are concerned. Now it’s about recovery and preparing for South Africa.’
It promises to be a grand event that will require a lot of public attention in the coming week.