THIS ISN’T THE first time the Springboks have stirred the pot with Ireland.
In 2004, Boks boss Jake White angered the Irish with his incendiary comments ahead of a November Test at Lansdowne Road.
White was made to eat his words as Ireland beat the South Africans for the first time in 39 years and just the second time in their history, that 17-12 victory proving to be a turning point in a one-sided relationship that had seen the Boks win eight in a row
Since that day in November, famous for Ronan O’Gara’s controversial tap-and-go try, Ireland have won eight of their 12 games against the Springboks, including a first-ever victory on South African soil.
The success in 2004 was a big moment for Eddie O’Sullivan’s team, who had won the Triple Crown earlier that year, teeing them up for a two-Test tour of South Africa in the summer.
Brian O’Driscoll and co. lost the first Test at altitude on a Bloemfontein on a 31-17 scoreline and O’Sullivan recalls two soft try concessions being crucial. Ireland were better in the second Test but lost 26-17 as they ran out of steam in the last quarter. This was back when South Africa were much earlier in their season and fresher than Ireland.
Still, they were creditable Irish performances but White wasn’t impressed.
“I think only two of their players would be included in the Bok team, O’Driscoll and maybe one of the locks,” said the Springboks boss a few days after the second Test.
“How could we have lost against the Irish?”
O’Sullivan had already told his players that Ireland would get the Boks in November back in Dublin. White’s statement surprised him but he decided not to respond publicly, storing it away for the autumn as he watched the Boks win the Tri-Nations.
And then, a few days before the November Test, O’Sullivan craftily brought the issue bubbling back up at the perfect time. The Ireland boss prompted an Irish journalist to ask White about his comments again. Incredibly, the Boks boss doubled down.
“I still think that if I had to pick from the Irish team, maybe the locks and O’Driscoll would probably be the three players now,” he said, flagging Paul O’Connell and Malcolm O’Kelly as “good lock forwards” who might be in the mix for the Springboks squad.
“Those guys would be close to making the Springboks side, but I doubt whether any of these other players would make it.”
For good measure, White added, “If you look at the records between Ireland and South Africa, they wouldn’t be considered as one of the teams that have knocked us over that many times.”
Speaking this week, O’Sullivan says Ireland didn’t specifically call a meeting to talk about White’s comments but he did respond in the media the second time, branding the words as ungracious, derogatory and “insulting to Irish rugby.” Ireland were pissed off.
When Saturday rolled around, there was visible, audible emotion in Lansdowne Road. During the Irish anthem, several Irish players were in tears. The energy from the stands was electric.
“The crowd was really important to us winning,” says O’Sullivan. “White’s comments that week really riled people. I remember in the warm-up, you could feel the tension in the air. People were upset he said those things.
“In the last few minutes, they were coming at us in waves and waves like wildebeest from the Highveld but the crowd helped us to hold firm.”
There were massive defensive moments throughout, with Geordan Murphy making a crucial tap tackle on Percy Montgomery to prevent a try at one stage, and the late Anthony Foley making a massive breakdown turnover on another occasion.
It wasn’t all passion from Ireland, who had had a good game plan, using the wind to their advantage through O’Gara’s kicking game.
“The big focus was not playing in our half, finding grass in the backfield and making them try and run back from deep.
“For the most part, we succeeded in that but the second part of our game plan was to get off the line, tackle early, get an assist tackle where we could, and counter-ruck or slow the ball so they couldn’t get momentum. Because back then, they were probably 10kg heavier a man than us.
“There was a significant size difference so the only way to survive was to stop their one-off runners. It was a war of attrition.”
The Boks couldn’t breach the Irish tryline, relying on four penalties from Montgomery’s boot. O’Gara kicked three penalties and slotted a drop goal for Ireland. O’Sullivan’s men also played some exciting stuff as Horgan and O’Driscoll impressed in midfield.
The difference between the sides was that memorable O’Gara try after Ireland had been hammering away at the South African tryline. They got a string of penalties and O’Sullivan expected his team to keep going into the corner due to the Niall O’Donovan-coached Irish lineout being so reliable.
Referee Paul Honiss called time off, gave South Africa skipper John Smit a yellow card warning, and told him to speak to his players.
In the next moment, Honiss called time back on and with Smit’s back turned as he spoke to his team-mates, O’Gara tapped the penalty and darted into the right corner, scoring past Bakkies Botha.
“We were sitting in the stand thinking it was going into the corner and we’d win the lineout and have a crack,” says O’Sullivan.
“ROG is lining it up and suddenly taps it and jumps over the line. It was just like, ‘Fair play, ROG, it wasn’t my first choice but it worked!’ If you don’t score, it’s a disaster, so he really backed himself.
“To be honest, I was a bit surprised they let it go but if they had done that to us, people wouldn’t have given us any sympathy.”
O’Sullivan points out that it was a seminal moment for rugby because every time after that, captains told to speak to their players would make sure the referee wasn’t going to allow a tap.
The celebrations after Ireland’s win were hearty and O’Sullivan notes that White didn’t have a huge amount to say afterwards.
In fact, he says White was at the same table as him at the post-match function but didn’t speak to O’Sullivan at all. The Ireland boss does have huge praise for the “gracious” Boks captain Smit, who later apologised to him for the whole saga.
The win was also a seminal moment for Ireland, who had an even better victory against the Boks in November 2006, scoring four tries in a brilliant 32-15 win.
“I would still say that going down there is extremely difficult territory to play in,” says O’Sullivan.
“It’s the most intimidating atmosphere you’re going to meet on a rugby tour, much more so than Australia or New Zealand.
“Especially when you go to the Highveld, the whole atmosphere is quite visceral. They have loud music playing, all the braais going, you can smell the burning meat when you get off the bus. These big South Africans with their beer are shouting abuse, so it’s a tough place to go mentally. I’m not criticising that, it’s just what you expect.
“But we realised in 2004 that we could beat these guys.”
