Ireland's Jack Conan: Springboks' innovation is putting eyeballs on the game

Ireland’s vastly experienced No 8, Jack Conan, says the Springboks are reinventing rugby, but his team “love a challenge” and cannot wait to tackle the South Africans on Saturday in Dublin.

While it is an uncomfortable fact for the Springboks that they have lost four of their last five games against the Irish, and have never won in Dublin under Rassie Erasmus, the Boks have grown their game significantly over the past year or so, while many feel Ireland have regressed.

Eighteen months ago, the teams drew a series 1-1 in South Africa. Recently, the Irish played poorly in losing to New Zealand in Chicago and in beating Japan in Dublin, but they were much improved in thrashing the Wallabies 46-19 last week.

“You always want to be playing well, but the reality of international rugby is it can’t always go your way,” said Conan. “But this win over Australia was a real stepping stone and a brilliant launch pad for the big game against the Springboks.

“You want to be feeling good about yourself before such a huge clash. We want to be coming in with a bit of pep in our step, bouncing in and looking forward to reviewing the things that we did well and taking on the chin the things that we could do better, and bringing it all forward into the huge Test against South Africa.”

Conan is a veteran of a succession of Tests against the Boks, including three with the British and Irish Lions. He knows what to expect.

“Like, you’re playing South Africa and it’s no shock that they’re unbelievably physical, is it?

"The squad that they pick and the way Rassie goes about picking his bench, and you see André Esterhuizen playing in the back row and all this. They’re kind of reinventing the game a little bit, and it’s great to see.

“But if you’re shy in the contacts with them, they’re going to have a field day. It’s something we’ll talk about as the week goes on, and how good they are in the line-out and scrum. You see how they’ve gone in the last two weeks, getting two red cards, and it’s not bothered them at all.”

Conan added: “They’re a good team, aren’t they?

"You see what they’re doing with the bench and how they apply their forwards. They’re changing the game, and it’s great to see. It’s innovation, it’s interesting, it’s getting eyeballs on the game, and they’re going really well.

“They’re an unbelievably physical side and deserve to be the best in the world, so it’ll be a huge challenge for us. But we love a challenge. We love having to be better and grow bigger.”