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21st September 2023
11:58am BST
"At the time, I think we both said, not that the Boks were holding something back but... it's easier to go into this game and say, 'We lost the last time, Ireland are No.1 in the world, the expectations should be on them to win.'"Much has been made of Nienaber and Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus pushing ahead with this 7:1 bench split, loading it with seven forwards and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach. While some in Ireland have said 'there's no craft to it' and given similar takes, regarding that bench split, Nel believes it is more mind games for Ireland to dice with. He feels that if South Africa really feared Ireland matching their physicality, they would have selected even bigger squad forwards, like Marvin Orie (6-foot-7) and Duane Vermeulen (6-foot-5), over the likes of Kwagga Smith (5-foot-11) and Deon Fourie (5-foot-9). "The issue here," said Nel, "is when you get in a street fight, your jab pretty much means nothing. That's for boxing. And Ireland are going to get into a street fight at the weekend.
"All of the peripheral stuff - their form, technique, their attack - it's valuable and important but if they cannot cope with the physicality of the Boks, then a lot of that just falls away. I don't think Ireland can cope with the physicality of the Boks, and neither does Rassie. If he did, he wouldn't pick three mini forwards on the bench. He would load up with the biggest guns he has, and they haven't done that. "We are going into the match against Ireland, the number one team, who we've played once and lost once, under Rassie. I think we've [won] four of the last 11 matches against Ireland. And we're going in with one back on the bench, a scrumhalf who has only played scrumhalf, then two mini fetchers and a mini fetcher that [covers] hooker. So, we can't say the Boks have a hell of a lot of respect for this Irish team. "I'm sure there are technical reasons for those picks, but wee feel like we are going to physical mangle these guys, this weekend. It's clear."Mark Keohane went on to say the South Africa bench is much stronger than anything Ireland can throw at them. "I rate the Munster monsters, Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman, as the best lock pair in Irish rugby. They're on the bench, against Ireland!" In fairness, pundits and talking heads can get parochial on sporting matters, especially as big games draw near. On the latest House of Rugby both myself and Darren Cave sided with Ireland for Saturday's match.
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