‘Ireland reaping the rewards of decades of hard work,’ says Bok assistant Felix Jones

Springbok assistant coach, and former Irish international, Felix Jones, believes that decades of hard work through various systems in Ireland have elevated their rugby to the current strong state that they find themselves in.

The Boks and Ireland are set to resume their recent fierce rivalry when they collide in their end-of-year-tour clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (7.30pm), and Jones was asked what had turned them into such a formidable opponent in recent times.

In their last five encounters the Irish have triumphed on four occasions, suffering just one loss at Loftus last year, while the Boks haven’t won in Ireland since 2012.

Structures built

“Ireland have been in and around the top three places in the world for such a long period now, and it goes back to the structures they’ve built over the last few decades. Their school system, their academies, and how it all feeds into the national team so effectively,” explained Jones.

“They’ve worked hard to ensure their feeder system is in a strong position. This current team is extremely well coached and has been for a long time. The foundations were laid by Declan Kidney, through to Joe Schmidt and now Andy Farrell.

“Then there are the players who accelerated that success through unbelievable hard work and a style of play that has evolved over the years. Their skillset and depth have grown, and the players coming through are already at a professional level at a young age. All of that comes back to hard work.”

On Saturday in Dublin, Ireland’s attack will be a key focus point for the impressive Bok defence, which repelled large waves of Italian and French attacks with 14 men over the past two weekends, and Jones was asked if the Irish attack has evolved and would produce a different challenge.

“I wouldn’t say it’s more structured or less structured than before. There are new faces giving it a different flavour, and I think Andrew Goodman (attack coach) is doing a really good job,” said Jones.

Lood and Franco

He also had a word of support for Bok locks Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert, who received permanent red cards over the past two weekends, with both of them not named in the match 23 due to their various hearings this past week.

De Jager had his appeal to a four-game ban, four his red against France, rejected, so was ruled out anyway, but Mostert could have played after his red was overturned, but due to the Bok management being unsure of those decisions, neither were in contention.

“You have to feel for Lood and Franco in particular, but most of the other guys are professional enough and have been around long enough to know how to get on with things and prepare for the Test,” said Jones about whether it had been a disruption in the build-up.

“For those two, it was disruptive because it was uncertain whether they were going to be available or not. Will they miss a session because they’ve got a consultation, a hearing, or an appeal?

“They desperately wanted to be selected and play for the Springboks, and they did their absolute best not only in how they conducted themselves but also in the moments in question. This week was likely more disruptive for them than for the team.”