Murray Kinsella reports from London
THE MOST IMPORTANT individual piece of skill over the course of the World Cup quarter-finals? Certainly Duane Vermeulen’s sensational offload to Fourie du Preez was a strong contender.
The number eight was superb for the Springboks as they squeezed out Warren Gatland’s Wales at Twickenham, setting up a semi-final clash with a familiar enemy.
Vermeulen’s teammates call him the ‘machine’ and the 29-year-old will need to be motoring at his very best on Saturday against a familiar foe.
The Boks and New Zealand have played out some fierce contests in recent times, with the latest honours going the way of Steve Hansen’s side on a 27-20 scoreline in Johannesburg during the Rugby Championship.
Whatever about tactics and the attacking form that New Zealand bring into this tie, Vermeulen believes it will be won and lost in the mind.
I think this week is all mental,” said Vermeulen in Guildford yesterday. “We know exactly how New Zealand play and they know how we play.
“The coaches have already sorted out the way they want to attack and defend and what plays they want. So as a player in the squad it definitely just comes down to mental preparation, how you get yourself ready for Saturday.
“You see the body language of the guys, are you down the slope or happy where you are?”
Vermeulen pointed to the importance of the Boks’ performance psychologist, Pieter Kruger, for this training week.
Professor Kruger, who has a PhD in Clinical and Performance Psychology, joined the South Africa set up at the start of the year as head coach Heyneke Meyer looked to strengthen the mental skills of his players.
They have had some demanding tests of those skills this year, but the manner in which the Boks bounced back from their opening-game defeat to Japan at this World Cup has suggested real resilience.
Kruger is a man who will “put you in the right direction,” according to Vermeulen.
“In front of the group as a whole he gives us a couple of bits of stuff,” said the number eight. “The first couple of games in the Rugby Championship we played, there was a tense part between 50 and 70 minutes – 20 minutes where we struggled to get points.
Pieter showed that us that you just have to get that little bit of a mind shift. Suddenly, you cannot score tries but you can score points and build that scoreboard pressure to put yourself ahead. When you are behind, you can keep the boxes ticking too.”
The number eight is a man who appears to be on a positive route, with his performance last weekend against Wales driving his side to success. Vermeulen missed the July defeat to the Kiwis and very nearly saw himself ruled out of this World Cup due to neck surgery.
Fit again and firing at his best, the Toulon man is inspiring his teammates.
“Duane is a machine, as we all like to call him,” said prop Tendai Mtawarira, known as the ‘Beast’ himself.
“Jean de Villiers said it before the tournament started: ‘We don’t need to look anywhere else for inspiration, we’ve got guys within the team that really inspire us’ and Duane is definitely one of those figures who inspires all of us by the way he leads on the field.
“We just have to follow behind and make sure we’re right behind him when he’s putting his body on the line.”
The Boks are going to be doing a fair bit of that, one senses, and Vermeulen says he is greatly looking forward to taking on Kiwi number eight Kieran Read, stating that “it’s always nice to come up against a guy you really respect.”
Indeed, there is mutual respect between these two world-leading sides, despite the rivalry on the pitch. Saturday is likely to be physically brutal, highly skillful and quite possibly thrilling for us neutrals, but the teams will keep the spirit of the game alive after the battle.
There’s a massive rivalry,” said Vermeulen. “You always see the respect of the game, how the guys treat each other. You play against each other week on week and you tend to get to know the guys a bit better.
“That’s where the respect grows. It’s nice to see the guys, but we’re going to bash each other for 80 minutes.
“Afterwards, we’ll definitely have a good chat and maybe a beer like Skulla (Schalk Brits) always says.”
Ireland beat NZ, SA and OZ in the same year! Rory best deserved his ovation
Well said…
Go on the biys!! Southern Hemisphere got nothing on us
Ringrose is becoming exceptionally good exceptionally quick at this level!!
Great opportunist try. BOD-esque in his step and pace.
Murray what do you think of our injury concerns? We seem to get an abnormal amount from game to game; which would make a World Cup run of games very difficult.
Conor you got there before me thinking the same.
Given another week, we’d likely have had Henshaw, Payne at full strength and O’Brien in the team. Last week was exceptionally brutal. Australia rested a huge amount of their team last week. We did very well considering the circumstances.
In a World Cup though, that’s scant conciliation when you play tough games from week to week.
When him and Henshaw get a bit of a run together for Leinster its gonna be real exciting. Drico and Darce reborn only bigger? Well done to all the young lads, playing out of position etc. Incredible shift.
When Peter O’Mahoney came on I though he was really good. Steadied the ship.
I would love to see what a pom cj jvdf back row could do in a full game
Diarmuid, you’ll have to wait until Heaslip retires. Not a single coach on the planet would leave him out of an Irish 15.
I was one of heaslips doubters myself but I must say he has been one of Irelands best players this autumn I just wanted to see how those 3 could work together would have been an exciting prospect to see but the back row competition atm is frightening
Well said diarmuid. I was the same. Had my doubts, but he has been excellent.
@Stephen Foster:@Stephen Foster: He spend his 20 mins on the wing, and didn’t bother to tackle. Clearly unfit..
Take a bow Ringrose. Chuffed for Best shows true grit in Ireland to grind out that win. Great to see O’Mahony back to his best bruising men and getting a vital turnover. Well done Ireland great series!
Rory Best is a gent. And a great captain. Tough second half…. Well done the boys in green.
Well done to a valiant Irish team. Bring on the 6 Nations…
And we sure saw a lot of LIONS there tonight ????
Pat – possibly, but there is a 6Nations to come yet and make no mistake it will be physically brutal.
What a game by the whole 23 great series with plenty of new players blooded on to the six nations…
Do you think there are any other players that haven’t played in this series that could come into the mix? Maybe Ronan O Mahony? Stuart olding?
Jesus me nerves!!!
@Range Rover P38: Bloody oath mate. Do wish we wouldn’t kick possession away – just adds to the stress.
What a country we have! Proud to be Irish. Great win.
Couldn’t agree more. Proud of Rory and all of ‘em!
What a great win and heroic performance; a scrum half on the wing, a rookie out half full back, a midfield who hasn’t played together and all the injuries to senior players prior to the game. Great heart and performance.
Brilliant win. Getting wins over the big three in one year is nothing to be sniffed at. The depth at backrow is unreal, even when we had to reshuffle we had a backrow that dominated Hooper, Pocock at the breakdown, and we finished with a backrow of POM, VDF and Stander. Ringrose a special player. Best a great leader. Furlong a monster. Mighty potential shown over the series. One thing though, should we have started Scannell and O’Halloran? Players pushing hard to recover from injuries weren’t able to last the full match, that stretched us a bit.
@Thomas Moroney: And what happened to the SH dominance all of a sudden? Australia, SA, Argentina and even NZ losing in the November series. Glad to see that things are maybe being shaken up at international level.
Your right there Thomas, I have never seen Pocock so dominated at the breakdown.
Just Brilliant .
The Mighty Green MEN made a dark November very BRIGHT .
Thanks .
3rd in the rankings. “How sweet this moment is”
Even if Australia get hammered next we we still won’t be third in the rankings, the gap is too big between us and the Aussies.
Correct
Ya I realise that now. Those at RTÉ 2fm told me differently
That was an Incredible victory, arguably a better victory than the win against the All Blacks considering the 2nd half circumstances and the missing players from the start.
An epic match! Battered by injuries and still found the wherewithal to come from behind to win. Aussie grand slam in tatters. My heart bleeds…. not.
They’ll take it out on the Poms. Didn’t deserve to win tonight after our first half.
Hopefully
Wohooo!! Guess we bet them with their own style
Fantastic mix of young and less young. Can’t wait 6N. England and France at home. Big thanks to Joe, Andy and coaching staff.
Love this team!!!! What a win. Injuries are a serious concern though
Brilliant match the boys in Green are on fire. Congratulations to all who played hope the injuries received are not too serious especially Rob Kearney.
What a Man Rory Best.
That was one of the best Irish performances I’ve seen….they knew there would be a backlash after the break, they soaked up the pressure of 2 scores, and when it was necessary, went out and finished the game with am Earl try in the corner. ….very proud. ….a world beating performance.
Amazing as well considering Aussies rested so many lads last week to be fresh for this. None of our injuries bar Jordi murphy seem to serious at this stage as well.
If we didn’t have all those injuries we could have won by a cricket score.
Exactly!!!
Well, if ever our depth was going to be questioned, it was going to be in a game against a better ranked team, an improvised back line, with two backs having seven caps between them. That was an incredible win. Our pack is just fantastic. So happy right now.
What a win. Such heart and passion shown there with all the injuries and reshuffling around the backline. All 23 were superb there today, an excellent November series and lots of players blooded for the 6 Nations in February. Well done Rory and the boys.
What was done here with so many inexperienced kids is just brilliant – The squad standard is scary and will have no need to fear anyone. it’s potentially only a beginning – but what a start. I’m sure there is a crazy talented winger or two out there just waiting to be sprung on us and maybe a fullback or two ( thanks Rob for being a hero of mine for so long)
The aussies really did butcher it. Twice they had easy run ins but messed it up thankfully. Joe should really have had a Centre on bench considering Payne wasn’t 100% and Kearney also.
We’re the first team to beat the All Blacks, Oz and SA in a year since England in 2003. Joe Schmidt & the boys deserve great credit for that. I was fearful of England in the 6N but not anymore after this series. COYBIG, you’ve done us proud.
Brilliant game and great atmosphere at the Aviva , the pack were on fire today , Furlong , Stander , Van Der Flier and Jackson had world class performances today . Beating Springboks , The All Blacks and The Wallabies all in the space of a few months is incredible. Hopefully we get no injures and a few players recover and we’ll be in flying for the six nations
I think its fair to say Ringrose makes the grade in an Ireland shirt and once again Furlong went on the rampage!
Huge character shown by all 23 players. And a great victory in the face of such adversity. But if we know Joe he will have picked out a number of areas we can improve upon and win the 6N.
Rory Best for the Lions captaincy??
Great win, great year. Congratulations, am gonna go put some money on Ireland for the 6N before the odds drop thru the floor!
Bring on the six nations. England and France at home. . GREAT CHANCE !