Springboks coach on why they want Ireland game to be hard
According to assistant coach Mzwandile Stick, South Africa is excited about the prospect of a challenging Rugby World Cup matchup with Ireland and will play aggressively in Paris.
If the defending champions defeat the top-ranked team in Test rugby on Saturday night at Stade de France, they will put themselves in position to advance to the quarterfinals.
Coach Stick thinks the Springboks perform best under pressure and welcomes a rigorous review of their qualifications to get them ready for prospective opponents in the knockout rounds.
South Africa dropped their inaugural World Cup match to New Zealand, but they bounced back to beat England in the championship match to win the Webb Ellis Cup for a third time.
“We don’t expect an easy game tomorrow, and we actually don’t want it to be easy,” stated Stick.
Just to get us ready in case we advance to the playoffs, we want it to be challenging.
“When we are under pressure, we play our best rugby.
“If you recall, in 2019 after losing the first game, skeptics insisted that you couldn’t win the World Cup, but we proved them wrong.
“We are certain that we will play aggressively should we reach the playoffs.
“That doesn’t imply that we’ll hold back tomorrow; we won’t hold back. We’ll attack them savagely.
“I don’t want to talk too much about Ireland and their methods, but I’ll tell you one thing: regardless of the circumstances, we will be ready for this game.”
South Africa is the slight favorite to defeat Andy Farrell’s team because they have already defeated Scotland and Romania.
PropThe squad with the most drive to win, according to Steven Kitshoff, who will join Ulster after the competition.
The 31-year-old loosehead predicted that the game will be difficult.
“Going into the World Cup, both teams have a lot to play for, so we need to make sure we play well and maintain the momentum we’ve built up so far.”
But anything may occur that night. Undoubtedly, the side that shows up with the most desperation and is prepared to put in the extra effort will prevail.
The game will be closely contested.