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'The Springboks have to look at Ireland as the benchmark'
By Josh Raisey
Though Ireland’s travails at World Cups are well documented, Andy Farrell’s side have been backed to “get it right” sooner or later by journalist Craig Ray, who expects the 2027 tournament to be a good one for the men in green.
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While South Africa’s haul of four World Cups will be the envy of an Ireland team that have never reached a semi-final, and any other team for that matter, the reigning Six Nations champions have set the standard between World Cups that the Springboks should try and emulate, according to Ray.
Joining the Off the Ball podcast recently, the South African said that Ireland are the “benchmark” for consistency.
Though it is hard to argue with back-to-back World Cups, any criticism that is thrown the Springboks’ way is that they are not dominant between tournaments in the way the All Blacks were last decade as they achieved the same feat of two titles on the bounce.
So while the Boks will be seeking greater consistency between World Cups, Ireland will be striving to peak in time for next the World Cup, and Ray believes both sides are close to achieving their goals.
“Ireland have got this nearly 85 per cent winning percentage over the last five years and that’s kind of what you want to do,” he said.
“You want to be that side that wins 80, 85 per cent of their Test matches between World Cups and that’s the next challenge I think.
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“I think Ireland will get it right sooner or later, it’s inevitable. They’re too good not to get it right at some point. I imagine the next World Cup will be a good one for Ireland. Andy Farrell’s a great coach. We saw what they did to the Springboks last month, they really did a job on them in that second Test, especially in the first half.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for Ireland down here as a team. I know the banter around the World Cup is real, but the reality is the Springboks have to look at Ireland as the benchmark for consistency. They’re getting there now. They lost the one game this year, but they’re looking pretty strong. They’ve lost two Tests in the last 16, so they’re in a decent space in terms of winning percentage and they’ve got a lot of exciting players to come.”
Potato famine!
Oh wait, he's blocked me already!
Ah well, better safe than sorry 🤣
He has about three incarnations and it's like the ubndead. They just keep coming back. I have managed to get myself blocked two out of three but he refuses to block me on this one. I am going to debit this platform with my time it takes to scroll past his interminable turgid rubbish. Mention the Potato famine - that usually gets you blocked.
I don't think he is a man I think he's a disillusioned Irish washerwoman who is looking for a jig to dance.
Get him to ban you then you don't have to scroll through his interminable rubbish. Just bring up the Potato Famine and he will ban you.
That does sound like Turdloaf 🤣 Nothing he likes more than a good blocking!
No thanks. If the Boks use Ireland as the benchmark, then the Boks will become chokers and why should they? They are number one, back to back champions and feared world wide. Instead the Irish should use the Boks as a benchmark for success. The idiot writing this article is clearly an Irish fan
There's no such thing as "peaking" for a RWC. Especially this far out. There are far too many variables in play. Too many to name. All you can do is build depth, select your squad, & plan AT the RWC to PEAK FOR THE QFs. At knockout stage, pool results & EVERYTHING that went before the RWC are/is IRRELEVANT.
Which is why the concept of a "benchmark" team is a highly flawed one.
For sure, but the main thing about the RWC IMHO is that it's the only time the playing field(sic) is reasonably level, where there aren't any home or away issues (OK except for the home team) and the players have an extended time together (fair enough, the weather can play a part as in France) and there are no travel issues either. That's why the Irish win in Durban was so good. However, we mustn't forget that the 'Tony Brown' influence was still being gotten used to - and Pollard really wasn't used to doing goal line dropouts - so there are all sorts of excuses. It's fun to look forward to Oz in three years' time, especially for us Bok supporters, when the grounds will generally be dry and the backs should be able to shine, except in Brisbane and Perth if it pees with rain again. Let's look forward to some fantastic rugby union and the game proceeds as well as it seems to be at the moment. If the Boks win, great, but if they lose, shame, just as long as we don't get another Bryce Lawrence episode like we did in 2011.
Agreed. You can use this time to blood nee talent, but there is no way knowing who would be injured or unavailable etc etc etc to plan that far ahead. It's why Rassie is building depth.
Wake up boys! Sit back in your armchairs in your slippers and dressing gowns and sip your hot coco. Remember the good old days.
"Those days gone Grandad"
Rugby is about to get a shake up in the next three years.
The next group of young players will be playing for a different organisation than World Rugby, thank God.
Silver Lakes invested in N.Z. Rugby because they are the most recognised Rugby Brand in the World,
It was as a "Due Diligence" exercise as much as a bail out.
NZRFU were failing badly and are still failing. It was a no brainer for Silver Lakes.
Lets see how it all works, with the best Rugby Brand in the World.
I am sure they "recognised the potential of Rugby World Wide", especially when they saw how much money was being "ripped out of the game by its administrators" for accepting Bribes from big business.
All the Top Tier nations players are getting old. The reason for that is simple. The playing pool is getting smaller because kids aren't playing rugby in their teens.
Parents of 10 year olds don't want their kids playing Rugby.
Companies like Silver Lakes don't care about Tradition. They are an Investment Company. They are only interested in profit.
They need profit and if kids don't want to play they will find a way that will "encourage" them play.
That way will be a drastic change in the rules. Really simple. No head contact. That will define the "Rule changes" of any would be investor.
Once they work that out, whoever "Invests in rugby will clean up" It's a great game.
No more World Rugby. No more, Billy Beaumonts, no more Bernard LaPortes, No more Mohed Altrads and best of all, No more NZRFU.
"Parents of 10 year olds don't want their kids playing Rugby." Yeah, because you Antipodeans started this rugby league standing up tackling nonsense which has led to so many head injuries. Hopefully your two unions may have realised this (doubtfully I'm afraid) and you'll start tackling like the Boks (except for Esterhuizen) do now - low and hard.
Do suffer from acid reflux? Never heard so much vitriolic acerbic rubbish anywhere on any media platform. At least you are top in something.
Really? Not everyone wants to play touch rugby who is scared of contact. Not everyone wants to play NRL. That is rugby for the weak men. You will never stop rugby, but fools like you think you can.
I had an Irish guy block me over the potatoe famine in the 1800's which I was not even refering to. I heard all about apartheid and how nasty we South Africans are when the truth is that if a black guy walked into a pub in Ireland a few years back he was not welcome.
You're a lying zenophobic twat. You approached me on this thread. Nothing has changed. See ya!
You're a fkn liar. I haven't made a single xenophobic comment at any time and you cannot prove otherwise. But you've crawled so far up your own *-hole that you can only see your own shyt.
Here's a clue, *-hole: When a large number of people respond negatively to your posts, YOU'RE the problem.
Fk off & don't speak to me again on any subject.
Here we go again. You made xenophobic comments about Ireland and the Irish. I called you up on it. You even made further xenophobic comments after that. Before and after. You are a liar for pretending otherwise. Now f**k off and only speak to me about rugby from now on. Tool.
Ireland is not the benchmark, in fact I believe they’re heading into a steep downward curve which will become evident during this 6N. Age profile isn’t on their side and I don’t see the next gen in their tight 5 or backrow knocking down the door. The fact they’ve said they’re no longer looking at “project players” means they’re going to need to replace Lowe/Park/Ake..
Once the rules changed from 3 to 5 it became unpredictable for them to develop 'project' players. In retrospect one has to hail that Irish win in the Republic. Rassie was out-thought on that one.
Park, Aki, Hansen didn't feature in the last match where Ireland beat South Africa. Go figure?
Irish provinces are not allowed buy in front row players. Home grown talent will be grown. You have not heard of prop Paddy McCarthy, Joe's younger brother?
Plenty of talent coming through. People have been saying what youve been saying since 2018. You are unfamiliar with the Irish scene so are unlikely to notice players coming through. I predict Ireland grand slam in the Autumn but perhaps they will collapse between November and February as you suggest. Farrell being on Lions duty may be disruptive. Thats about it. You 'hope' more than 'believe' they are going into a downward curve I would suggest.
The aim now is bring in the next group of players and align them with the same goals.
In the past it was not consistent as Rassie and Jacques were not concerned with trying to beat a very impressive NZ win ratio. Although Ireland does perform well between tournaments, they peak too early so surely the goal from Ireland is to learn to peak when it matters.
The debate on who is the best is very close to call and we need to acknowledge NZ are in a rift of searching for the right players. Never right them off.
This is the first time that Ireland are able to be in the top and remain there. They have played consistent rugby and deserve their position.
When NZ dominated rugby with their impressive wins, I don't think we will ever see anything like that again.
I think instead of trying to word Ireland as the best and the benchmark, they need to progress to a RWC final. Not even a SF. Ireland also need to show over the next 4 years the emerging talent making it into the senior squad and maintaining their consistent wins. A thing that may change when Farrell leaves. This too can be said about the Boks when Rassie leaves. New coaches can try new things and mess it all up.
Let us also remember that SA, like NZ had two great coaches to win back to back world cups. NZ managed a final under Fozzie too so Razor has some work to do to keep NZ up there.
When the dust settles after RWC 27 and a year surpasses 28, we will have a clearer picture.
The Boks still have the biggest comeback in International Rugby history so anything is possible
Very well said, although it's not the next 4 years. More like a year and a half before the Nation's Cup, and the next year is the WC, so don't see many international games after this year because they will be preparing for the NC, then WC and injuries is a big threat. Do not be surprised to see other players starting more to save the main players from injuries
Just re Ireland. We didn't peak too early. We played NZ who had improved considerably since the start of the tournament. NZ had lined Ireland up since Ireland won the series in NZ. They had worked out a defense just for beating Ireland and they had Joe Schmidt who was uniquely positioned for that match. Also NZ had a straight run into the QF after the first match against France. Ireland's situation was complicated by having to dispatch Scotland in the last match. So a narrow loss to NZ was not entirely inexpected, two of the top 4 in the world could not reach the semi due to the draw, someone had to go. No shame in that, and I think it would be disrepectful to NZ to say we choked in that match. We didn't, we got beat by a better team on the day. No disrespect to Argentina but whomever won between NZ-IRL was odds on to make the final. So the QF was de facto the SF there.
In the 2027 RWC the draw should closer represent the World rankings when the tournament starts. That said there could be 5 teams of even standard who could win and Ireland could be eliminated in a QF again (knowing our luck). My sense is though that holding a placein teh top4 when the draw is made will become more and more important as more teams improve.
Farrell is a great cocach and he built on Joe Schmidts work. The worry is that when he goes the balloon might burst. Ireland must develop their coaching more this cycle to keep the Rugby IQ intact.
When you have four world cups in the bag the only thing that matters are those world cups. They will forever be remembered by the millions and millions who when asked what is their teams greatest achievement, everyone of them will say winning the World Cup. Trust me I know.
Now teams that don’t win the world cup will look for periods where they won a tournament or two, and perhaps were able to string together a winning streak of note. They will have to dig deep into the memory lanes the older they get to remember these insignificant and irrelevant achievements
Winning a 6N or a Grand Slam is not a significant or irrelevant achievement for the people involved. I assure you Welsh of Irish don't have to dig deep in the memory banks (maybe Wales because they have won so many).