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'Why should we be worried about Ireland now?'
By Josh Raisey
Former South Africa head coach Nick Mallett has dismissed Ireland’s chances of beating South Africa later this month, describing them as “plodding along”.
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Ireland have started their Quilter Nations Series campaign with a listless 26-13 defeat to the All Blacks in Chicago, followed by a far-from-convincing 41-10 victory over Eddie Jones’ Japan on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Springboks got their campaign started with a far more commanding 61-7 victory over the Brave Blossoms at Wembley, before producing one of the statement performances of the year against France, leaving Paris 32-17 victors despite being down to 14 men for 40 minutes.
Ireland will host Australia this weekend, while Rassie Erasmus’ side will take on Italy, before the two sides meet in Dublin on November 22. South Africa will then close their November with a trip to Cardiff to face Wales.
Despite describing himself as “glass half-empty with the Boks,” Mallett is confident about the rest of the Springboks’ tour, saying “we’re going to win the games, it’s just a question of how much.”
“I’m always a little bit worried – surely we aren’t as good as this?” Mallett said when speaking to Brenden Nel after the victory over France. “Surely another team must be getting back there. But slowly but surely, I’m seeing us winning when we’re playing badly sometimes and also when we’re up against it.
“When we were down to 14 men at half time, you could have put lots of bets on the Boks not winning that game. Their resilience, their team spirit, the South Africanness of our team, they play for their far bigger values than just for themselves or their team-mates, they play for the whole country, and they’ve done some remarkable things.
“So, I’m tending to think, why should we be worried about Ireland now? They’re plodding along, Ireland. They got beaten by New Zealand quite comfortably and we put 40-odd points against New Zealand when we played at our best in Wellington.
“So, I don’t think we should really be looking at saying we’re going to lose a game on this tour, I think it’s just a question of how Rassie manages his squad, whether he gives guys opportunities, when will [Handre] Pollard get an opportunity, when will there be some rotation. If we do have rotation, can we maintain the level of performance that we’ve got so far?
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“I think our pack of forwards, despite not having Ox Nche, they were still comfortably better than the French team. Playing away from home, it just didn’t seem to bother them at all. There’s so much self-confidence in that group now, and not arrogance, self-confidence, hard work, wanting to go that extra yard for each other and their coaches and their country. So I’m moving more towards we’re going to win the games, it’s just a question of how much.”
