Farrell relishes Springbok showdown as Ireland seek Nations Championship final spot

Andy Farrell has embraced the prospect of facing world champions South Africa at the Aviva Stadium, describing next Saturday’s Nations Championship clash as a defining test for an Ireland side that sits one point behind leaders France in the northern hemisphere standings.

Victory over the Springboks will almost certainly be required for Ireland to reach the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham. Ireland arrive into the fixture on the back of a 43-15 win over Fiji on Saturday, having opened their autumn programme with a 42-12 defeat of Argentina — though Farrell acknowledged the margin against Fiji flattered his side.

“The quicker we turn the page onto what’s going to be an unbelievably exciting week with the world champions coming to town, it really doesn’t get any better than that,” said Farrell. “To be able to test yourselves, especially with the type of rugby that they’re playing at this moment in time, it’s a fantastic challenge for us.”

With four wins from five, Ireland are level on 20 points with second-placed England, one point adrift of France, who secured top spot with a 21-19 win over South Africa in Paris on Friday.

The fixture carries particular weight given what unfolded 12 months ago. Ireland were shown five cards and dismantled by South Africa’s forward pack in a chaotic 24-13 Dublin defeat last November — a result that left deep impressions in the home camp.

Hooker Ronan Kelleher, who came off the bench that day and scored one of Ireland’s seven tries against Fiji on Saturday, was candid about the memory. “It was a very tough day, particularly at scrum time and for us in the front row,” he said. “It’s something that kind of drives you on a bit. You kind of had to take it on the chin. There hasn’t been a drastic overhaul of the scrum or anything like that, it’s just been us focusing on what we can do. Please God we’ll have enough in the tank and we’ll do a job.”

Wing Tommy O’Brien, who crossed twice against Fiji, believes nothing short of a near-perfect display will be sufficient. “I think last year in November a few guys came in post-Lions having only played maybe one game going into it, maybe felt a little bit undercooked,” said O’Brien. “That wasn’t the case this year, and you can see that we hit the ground running against Argentina. We’ll need kind of a nine or 10 out of 10 performance next week to get the job done.”

Ireland have won three of their five meetings with South Africa under Farrell’s tenure, but the Springboks arrive in Dublin having lost narrowly to France and will be intent on bouncing back on Irish soil.