Ireland are set to open their November international’s this weekend against the Springboks at the Aviva Stadium. South Africa had a mixed Rugby Championship, looking very impressive at times and extremely ordinary on the other.
But the team South Africa have picked for this weekend just shows how serious they are taking this game against an Irish side that is on an all time high. That could change extremely quickly though if Ireland do lose to the Springboks on Saturday evening in Dublin and I would imagine that the top Irish bitcoin casinos will have a much better night as the home fans look to distract themselves from the result.
With one year to go to the Rugby World Cup, Ireland have a tradition of peaking just before rugby’s biggest tournament. This Irish team are conscious of this and are determinate not to let this happen again.
If Ireland do lose on Saturday you can be sure the critics will be out straight away to take down this Irish side, despite what they achieved this summer, done by only a select few. Former Ireland coach and Youghal man Eddie O’Sullivan was speaking to the BBC and believes the Springboks will come to ‘upset the applecart.’
“It is a good autumn series for Ireland and they will have a pretty good gauge of where they are,” O’Sullivan said.
“We have found in recent years that when the Boks have come, they have not been at the calibre or the pitch you would expect from them.
“We have got them and beat them. But I think this Boks team, who have come with Rassie Erasmus, will want to make a statement.
“If the Boks show up in full force then it will be a great Test. If we can beat them, albeit in Dublin, it will copper fasten our position in world rugby.
“We deserve that position at the moment. The result in New Zealand was fantastic, but we did see how New Zealand are probably not where they want to be.”
“It is going to be a really good Test, it will set out exactly where we are,” he said.
“If we can win that game, if it is a big barn burner of a game and we come out on top, there will be no argument about it.
“This will all be decided over two hours next Saturday. If Ireland are going to establish themselves as the bona fide number one, this is a game they will want to win to double down on that.
“If South Africa were to turn them over then the bragging rights might change position again.”
It’s all set up for Saturday evening and we can’t wait for it.