SIMON EASTERBY HAS challenged his Ireland squad to go to the next level and claim a southern hemisphere scalp on foreign soil.
Ireland have endured a torrid record on the road against world rugby’s ‘big three’ through the decades. The 15-6 victory against Australia in the pool stages of the 2011 World Cup was a major breakthrough, although that game took place at Eden Park in Auckland, which was technically a neutral venue.
You have to go all the way back to 1979 for Ireland’s last tour win against one of the heavyweights, Ollie Campbell spearheading a 2-0 series victory against the Wallabies. As for the All Blacks, let’s not go there.
Ireland have toured South Africa just four times — in 1961, ’81, ’98 and 2004. Their record: Played seven, lost seven. Since their last visit to the Rainbow Nation 12 years ago, Ireland have beaten the Boks on four of their last six visits to Dublin, including the impressive 29-15 win at the Aviva Stadium in 2014.
“If we want to do better than get to the quarter-final of the next World Cup then we’re going to have to do that — beat a southern hemisphere team outside of Dublin,” said Easterby, Ireland’s forwards coach.
“So we need to start to build that now, not in three years’ time when it comes to the World Cup. That’s got to be something that we’re striving towards now. Those home games are slightly different than when you tour as well. It’s a different mentality but a fantastic challenge for everybody.”
Advertisement
Easterby has first-hand experience of facing the Boks in their own backyard, having played in both Tests during the 2004 tour: “The players will find out, certainly when they arrive in Newlands, what it means. It’s a great place to not only go and watch a match, but to play in. It’s incredible.
“The whole country will get behind the Springboks as well. They’ve got a new head coach and with that comes a lot of expectation probably from the people but an excitement and that’s something we’re going to be part of on the weekend, and we’re going to be part of that next week and the following week.
Simon Easterby challenges South Africa's Jacques Cronje during Ireland's 31-17 defeat in Bloemfontein. INPHO
INPHO
“The players understand it’s going to be different to what we’ve been used to. The Six Nations is an incredible tournament with a lot of parochial rivalry, but down here we’re coming into their backyard and we’re a long way from home.
“We want to come here and lay down a marker and make a statement over the next three weeks. I’m sure individuals will want to do that; those that get selected for the first Test and the squad as a whole want to leave here feeling like we’ve achieved something.”
Shorn of Sean O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony and Josh van der Flier, Easterby has some adjusting to do in the back-row, with CJ Stander, Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Sean Reidy and Jamie Heaslip all eyeing up a spot.
Getting the right combination at lock will be paramount to success in this series, with Devin Toner, Iain Henderson, Donnacha Ryan, Quinn Roux and Ultan Dillane on board. Certainly, Ireland’s lineout — which stuttered at times during the Six Nations — will need to be near flawless against the Boks in the coming weeks.
“You’ve got to look at it in a number of ways — one is that we have to make sure that we secure our set-piece both at scrum and lineout, so you have got to have the right combinations,” said the former Ireland flanker. “We probably went to CJ quite a bit in the Six Nations and he wouldn’t be well-known in his Munster jersey for winning a huge amount of lineout ball, but we’ve had to adapt a little bit to what we’ve done in the past.
“We certainly didn’t have a perfect lineout in the Six Nations, but I think we started to see a bit of development of Dev in his calling. Unfortunately Leinster missed him in the [Pro12] final, he’s got good composure and not a lot rattles him; he’s pretty level-headed. But then below that we also need to develop other players in that calling.
Ultan Dillane speaking to the press in Cape Town yesterday. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“There are other really capable players like Hendy, Donners has a wealth of experience in there as well and then you’ve got players who can probably do other jobs that some of the others probably couldn’t do, like Ultan in particular who had a fantastic end to the season. Quinn didn’t get a lot of rugby but he has the ability to grow and seeing him in this environment is really good for us.
“So, I think combinations are important; getting the combination between scrum and lineout and what you need there is vital. You might not be able to pick two similar players sometimes, you’ve got to get a little bit of a balance between what one gives you and what another doesn’t. I think all of those things come into the selection conundrum. It’s good having the five guys as options, but it’s important that this week we get our selection right up against a really effective defensive lineout.”
Toner and Ryan finished the Six Nations as Ireland’s first-choice lock pairing, but Dillane’s form has impossible to ignore in recent months while Henderson has returned to add his explosiveness to the Irish forward effort.
For Easterby, Henderson’s return is a timely boost ahead of what will be a bruising three-Test campaign: “He played all of his rugby at number six at the end of the season, but just having him back… he probably needed four or five games — didn’t he? — just to get back up and you saw some of his barnstorming runs towards the back-end of the season was certainly something that any team would want in their side. And that for us is a real positive. He’s a big man, he’s explosive, he’s powerful.
“We talked about experience, he’s got to step up now and other players have to step up and take the mantle on of players that we maybe don’t have anymore. That’s part of your evolution as a team. You can’t look back because we’ll never move forward if we do that. You’ve got to just keep driving those players like Hendy, like Ultan, to really push the others and make sure that they start to put their stamp on their positions when they get the opportunity.”
'We want to come here and lay down a marker over the next three weeks'
Rory Keane reports from Cape Town
SIMON EASTERBY HAS challenged his Ireland squad to go to the next level and claim a southern hemisphere scalp on foreign soil.
Ireland have endured a torrid record on the road against world rugby’s ‘big three’ through the decades. The 15-6 victory against Australia in the pool stages of the 2011 World Cup was a major breakthrough, although that game took place at Eden Park in Auckland, which was technically a neutral venue.
You have to go all the way back to 1979 for Ireland’s last tour win against one of the heavyweights, Ollie Campbell spearheading a 2-0 series victory against the Wallabies. As for the All Blacks, let’s not go there.
Ireland have toured South Africa just four times — in 1961, ’81, ’98 and 2004. Their record: Played seven, lost seven. Since their last visit to the Rainbow Nation 12 years ago, Ireland have beaten the Boks on four of their last six visits to Dublin, including the impressive 29-15 win at the Aviva Stadium in 2014.
“If we want to do better than get to the quarter-final of the next World Cup then we’re going to have to do that — beat a southern hemisphere team outside of Dublin,” said Easterby, Ireland’s forwards coach.
“So we need to start to build that now, not in three years’ time when it comes to the World Cup. That’s got to be something that we’re striving towards now. Those home games are slightly different than when you tour as well. It’s a different mentality but a fantastic challenge for everybody.”
Easterby has first-hand experience of facing the Boks in their own backyard, having played in both Tests during the 2004 tour: “The players will find out, certainly when they arrive in Newlands, what it means. It’s a great place to not only go and watch a match, but to play in. It’s incredible.
“The whole country will get behind the Springboks as well. They’ve got a new head coach and with that comes a lot of expectation probably from the people but an excitement and that’s something we’re going to be part of on the weekend, and we’re going to be part of that next week and the following week.
“The players understand it’s going to be different to what we’ve been used to. The Six Nations is an incredible tournament with a lot of parochial rivalry, but down here we’re coming into their backyard and we’re a long way from home.
“We want to come here and lay down a marker and make a statement over the next three weeks. I’m sure individuals will want to do that; those that get selected for the first Test and the squad as a whole want to leave here feeling like we’ve achieved something.”
Shorn of Sean O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony and Josh van der Flier, Easterby has some adjusting to do in the back-row, with CJ Stander, Rhys Ruddock, Jordi Murphy, Sean Reidy and Jamie Heaslip all eyeing up a spot.
Getting the right combination at lock will be paramount to success in this series, with Devin Toner, Iain Henderson, Donnacha Ryan, Quinn Roux and Ultan Dillane on board. Certainly, Ireland’s lineout — which stuttered at times during the Six Nations — will need to be near flawless against the Boks in the coming weeks.
“You’ve got to look at it in a number of ways — one is that we have to make sure that we secure our set-piece both at scrum and lineout, so you have got to have the right combinations,” said the former Ireland flanker. “We probably went to CJ quite a bit in the Six Nations and he wouldn’t be well-known in his Munster jersey for winning a huge amount of lineout ball, but we’ve had to adapt a little bit to what we’ve done in the past.
“We certainly didn’t have a perfect lineout in the Six Nations, but I think we started to see a bit of development of Dev in his calling. Unfortunately Leinster missed him in the [Pro12] final, he’s got good composure and not a lot rattles him; he’s pretty level-headed. But then below that we also need to develop other players in that calling.
“There are other really capable players like Hendy, Donners has a wealth of experience in there as well and then you’ve got players who can probably do other jobs that some of the others probably couldn’t do, like Ultan in particular who had a fantastic end to the season. Quinn didn’t get a lot of rugby but he has the ability to grow and seeing him in this environment is really good for us.
“So, I think combinations are important; getting the combination between scrum and lineout and what you need there is vital. You might not be able to pick two similar players sometimes, you’ve got to get a little bit of a balance between what one gives you and what another doesn’t. I think all of those things come into the selection conundrum. It’s good having the five guys as options, but it’s important that this week we get our selection right up against a really effective defensive lineout.”
Toner and Ryan finished the Six Nations as Ireland’s first-choice lock pairing, but Dillane’s form has impossible to ignore in recent months while Henderson has returned to add his explosiveness to the Irish forward effort.
For Easterby, Henderson’s return is a timely boost ahead of what will be a bruising three-Test campaign: “He played all of his rugby at number six at the end of the season, but just having him back… he probably needed four or five games — didn’t he? — just to get back up and you saw some of his barnstorming runs towards the back-end of the season was certainly something that any team would want in their side. And that for us is a real positive. He’s a big man, he’s explosive, he’s powerful.
“We talked about experience, he’s got to step up now and other players have to step up and take the mantle on of players that we maybe don’t have anymore. That’s part of your evolution as a team. You can’t look back because we’ll never move forward if we do that. You’ve got to just keep driving those players like Hendy, like Ultan, to really push the others and make sure that they start to put their stamp on their positions when they get the opportunity.”
No better time to do it.
Ireland U20s unleashed a jaw-dropping series of offloads to score today’s winning try
5 men who made all the difference as Ireland U20s roared back from 17 down to beat Wales
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Challenge Ireland Rugby Simon Easterby South Africa