‘I’d rather have two World Cups and a Lions series and take the losses’ – Rassie Erasmus ups the ante ahead of Ireland clash

While Andy Farrell’s men continue to prepare quietly down the road in Johannesburg, the world champions are content to hype the clash of the world’s number one and two teams ahead of the Pretoria opener.

The build-up has been marked by a bullish approach from the locals, with Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe and Damian de Allende all voicing their perceived grievances against the Irish side who beat them in the pool match at last year’s World Cup.

The Springboks bounced back to retain their title as Ireland suffered an all too familiar quarter-final exit, yet they still appear to be going into this one with a chip on their shoulder having not beaten Ireland in their last three attempts.

South Africa tour daily: July 1st

Not that the defeats appeared to bother the head coach.

“From their side, they probably have unfinished business to try and get number one,” he said when asked if the Boks have unfinished business with Ireland.

“We don’t talk like that.

“We analyse players, we see how they perform in the URC and European Cup, then pick our team from players we think can do the job for us.

“We train really hard. We try to stay in our reality but our reality is we’re playing at home against a team that has beaten us. All the games were really close, they deserved all of those.

“But it’s never ‘we’ve got a score to settle.’ I’d rather take a World Cup, two World Cups and a British & Irish Lions series, and take the three loses. But we never go out to lose, we definitely didn’t try to lose.”

Erasmus was in flying form after naming an experienced side with Kwagga Smith at No 8, joking that Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber has been keeping him in the loop about the Leinster contingent in the squad when it was put to him that the Irish players might benefit from his influence.

“Yeah, definitely they will, no doubt, but Jacques phones me every night and tells everything about Ireland! No, I’m joking,” he smiled.

“Look, rugby is a professional game.

“Certainly, he will implement things there what worked for us here.

“Some of them you can clearly see. Some of them are working, some of them are not working because players of countries and cultures are different, and coaches are different.

“When you’re in different counties and cultures, and I know from Munster, you didn’t always read body language and when you said something you’re not quite sure this guy gets what I’m trying to say.

“RG Snyman played for Munster. He’s now a Leinster boy. So nowadays what you see on television and if you follow teams on Twitter, they post all their drills on Twitter and you can see basically who is starting and who is wearing the big, those kind of things.

“One thing I can promise you, I will never put Jacques in a position where the people he is working with and the team he loves, which is Leinster currently, thinking he would in any way helps us.

“But I also trust him not to tell them the name of moves and calls and those kind of things. I’m not worried about that.”

The departure of Johnny Sexton from the Irish ranks is the biggest alteration since the two teams’ last meeting.

After the former Ireland captain, Erasmus remarked of the Irish team, “The ref has got it much easier now.” No, I’m kidding.

“I used to say that even though Johnny really irritated us when we played against him, it would still be good to be on his team. I suppose I should say that we appreciate him and his style of play, his ability to control games, and his ability to command respect.

“However, Jack Crowley, this young fly-half, is not afraid. He doesn’t hesitate to tackle and plays it on the gainline. He also goes for the cross kick.

“I’m not sure if they will put the small one from Munster… (Craig) Casey or Murr (Conor Murray) with him. Maybe Casey because Casey and him play together. At that age, you don’t feel the pressure of Test match rugby so much until you actually realise what you’re part of. Sometimes that’s good.

“What has changed in their game? I think they even defend a little bit Jacques Nienaber-style, a little bit. They are hard off the line, without a doubt.”

The rivalry between these teams is real.

“It’s the same as when we play the All Blacks and when we play big teams,” he said.

“I think the rivalry is more from their (the Irish) media side than from ours.

“I believe that occasionally they might not fully see the humor of South Africa and why we find certain things amusing, and occasionally they may quote something out of context.

“Let’s use Simon Zebo as an example. The man called me and stated that we had a few beers, he made the remark (about Erasmus detesting Ireland), and it was on a podcast. To borrow the final phrase I stated, “let’s spice it up,” South African humor is also responding to Simon.

Indeed, they are ranked second in the world and have defeated us previously. We don’t consider ourselves underdogs, and I don’t believe they do either. On Saturday, I believe we’ll witness two teams that are extremely motivated to win.