'IT’S HILARIOUS' - FARRELL WELCOMES RASSIE'S HYPE-BUILDING EFFORTS

ANDY FARRELL ISN’T on social media but he is kept up to date about what’s going on there.

It was probably hard to keep track of what Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks were up to this week, from Rassie predicting the Irish matchday 23, an official hype video promising that this series is about “unfinished business,” to Erasmus explaining why Irish fans can get so “windgat.”

Farrell certainly doesn’t seem to have lost any sleep over any of it.

“It’s hilarious,” said Farrell yesterday after naming his actual matchday 23 in Johannesburg, showing a few key differences to Erasmus’ prediction.

“It’s brilliant. You think it is though, don’t you? You think it’s good. So do I.

“It’s hilarious, like. Why not? Why not? I don’t think nothing of it. I think it’s good, it’s interesting. There’s a few spelling mistakes there, a few weights that were wrong. I thought it was great.”

Farrell welcomes all of the hype that has built around this two-Test series. He loves the edge that has developed in the rivalry on and off the pitch.

“It doesn’t get any bigger, really, does it?” said Farrell.

“It’s brilliant, it’s what we want. If you try and shy away from that you’re in the wrong team for a start. Certainly, you’ll be in the wrong place on Saturday as well.”

Even though he welcomes how Erasmus and the Springboks are going about their business, Farrell is sticking to his usual routine of keeping his key messages and motivations in-house.

He stressed that Ireland know who they represent, their history, what this series is all about, but says that “we keep that softly to ourselves.”

It’s a method that has generally worked well for this Ireland team, who have been consistent under Farrell. 

He is confident that his players are ready to produce something big in Pretoria on Saturday. Farrell has no concerns that his players might dip after a year-long season and the disappointment they had with their provinces.

“Not for one second, that’s the god’s honest truth,” he said.

“You’d expect me to say that anyway, wouldn’t you? But that’s the god’s honest truth.

“It’s never been mentioned once. This is not an end-of-season tour for us, it’s a special opportunity in front of our face and it’s exactly the same whenever a big opportunity comes around.

“It were never, ever mentioned that it was the end of the season going to New Zealand [in 2022].

“The lads have done an unbelievable amount of hard work, you’d think it’s the start of the season, not the end. They’re in great spirits, they’ve trained hard and put the work in. The preparation has been great. As far as that’s concerned, it tells me they’re in great form.”

It would be a big achievement for Farrell’s side to beat the Boks at altitude in Loftus Versfeld but it surely helps that they’ve tasted victory against them the last three times they’ve played.

The games in 2022 and last year were tight battles but Ireland know what they have to do to win.

“Play our game,” said Farrell when asked what Ireland have done well against the Boks.

“We know what South Africa are very good at, to stop that is unbelievably difficult but we have tended to not concentrate on South Africa as much.

“I am talking about every team that we play, we also know what is coming and we pay attention and respect to that more than most [opposition teams] because of their dominance in certain areas.

“We have tried not to get sucked into that and make sure that we have the courage to play the way we want to.”

After all the hype, it’s nearly time for the battle.

2024-07-05T08:44:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd