ALEX LOWE
One land left to conquer for Rassie Erasmus: win at the AvivaSouth Africa have not won in Ireland since 2012 and head coach says back-to-back world champions simply must end year with defining victory
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, Rugby Correspondent
Friday November 21 2025, 8.12pm GMT, The Times
Erasmus sets the tone in Dublin, where he has resorted to familiar ploys to keep his side hungry and angry
PIARAS Ó MÍDHEACH/SPORTSFILE
It might be a stretch to label Dublin as the final frontier for a team who are back-to-back world champions but even for the great South Africans there is one land left to conquer. The Springboks have not won in Ireland since 2012. Rassie Erasmus has never won a game at the Aviva Stadium, not when in charge of Munster and not as head coach of the Springboks.
His only taste of victory in the D4 district of Dublin came at the old Lansdowne Road in 1998, when he scored a try for the Springboks in a 27-13 win. The only present player to have toasted a victory on Irish soil is Eben Etzebeth, who was playing his ninth game for South Africa during a breakthrough season in 2012. Now 34, the 6ft 7in lock will clock up his 140th Test appearance on Saturday. It’s been a while.
Peter O’Mahony and Francois Louw get well acquainted at Lansdowne Road in 2012
SPORTSFILE
Erasmus, 53, is acutely aware of that history and the ties that bind the two nations. Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery, two former Ireland internationals, are on the Springboks coaching team. Erasmus was in charge of Munster in 2016-17 but left the post early to become South Africa’s director of rugby. A 38-3 defeat by Ireland in the autumn of 2017 triggered the Springboks to fire Allister Coetzee as head coach and paved the way for Erasmus to take charge, armed with intelligence he had gathered from the Ireland system.
The two countries have met four times since, all of them one-score games. The Springboks’ only win was in a drawn two-Test series at home in July 2024. The Boks lost in Dublin in 2022 and again in the pool stages of the 2023 World Cup, the only blemish on South Africa’s tournament record in France. Erasmus stood on the field after that game, taking in the sound of the Ireland supporters singing Zombie, as if he was logging it all for later in the tournament.
Although Ireland players acknowledged their opponents with a refrain of, “See you in the final”, labelled arrogant by Etzebeth, they would not meet again in the tournament. Erasmus used that defeat to tear into his senior players, accusing Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Duane Vermeulen of putting their own egos before the needs of the country. It was a fierce speech but it worked and has endured. The Boks dug deep to win three one-point games at the World Cup. Two weeks ago against France, Kolisi accepted he had to come off at half-time in his 100th cap because it was best for the team after they had lost Lood de Jager to a red card.
Erasmus has built a powerful team-first environment within the Springboks and he is a master of motivation, whether building connections with communities back home or by tapping into narratives to keep his team hungry or angry. We have seen two such examples of the latter unfolding this week.
The first is nonsense, the notion that there is a World Rugby conspiracy against the Springboks, which gained traction after they received two red cards in two games during this November tour. It had been a theory espoused largely on social media and by green and gold commentators until given some authenticity in the week by Mzwandile Stick, the assistant coach, who claimed World Rugby officials were being unfair to South Africa.
From left, Kwagga Smith, Cheslin Kolbe and Cobus Reinach take a ride on the “Nellie Ellie” sculpture at their team hotel
PIARAS Ó MÍDHEACH/SPORTSFILE
The same World Rugby which just named three Springboks on its shortlist for men’s player of the year. Franco Mostert’s red card against Italy was overturned in the week but that was evidence of a disciplinary system not working rather than an anti-Boks conspiracy. But whatever gets you motivated, lads.
The second narrative is about putting right South Africa’s record in Ireland and ending the year with a defining victory. The Springboks demolished the All Blacks by a record score in Wellington and beat France with 14 men in Paris this month — but Erasmus has said the success of their year depends on finally storming the barricades of the Aviva Stadium.
“It would be an average season to have won ten from 13 games,” Erasmus said. “Dublin definitely comes up. I won there as a player but that was many years ago and it wasn’t the Aviva. I haven’t won at the Aviva as a coach. I want to fix this. No, it’s not revenge. It would be great for all of us to say we managed to get one in Dublin, because they’ve certainly had our number in the last couple of games. It’s something we haven’t done. Let’s go and try and do it.”
Beyond narratives, South Africa have built a squad capable of winning any which way — even with 14 men. They have power. They have always had power. The steady boot of a Morné Steyn or Handré Pollard gave them a reliable kicking game too. But the evolution in their attack since these teams met last year can be encapsulated in the emergence of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. The Boks have not had a No10 like him. “He’s got the magic feel for the game,” Erasmus said. With Tony Brown coaching the attack, Feinberg-Mngomezulu at fly half and the wonderful Damian Willemse at full back, South Africa can slice opponents open now, not just bludgeon them into submission.
Erasmus has also evolved his bench thinking. Where once the Boks were all about loading up with forwards, now South Africa are deploying André Esterhuizen, the former Harlequins inside centre, in a hybrid role as a midfield presence and loose forward. Ireland will be much more conventional on Saturday. Bundee Aki starts at inside centre, bringing some punch to their midfield, with Sam Prendergast’s selection at fly half confirming he is Andy Farrell’s preferred No10 over Jack Crowley.
Expect the (almost) all-conquering Springboks to be more focused when they seek to cross a final frontier on Saturday
PIARAS Ó MÍDHEACH/SPORTSFILE
Ireland have also changed their approach since last year, moving to a kicking strategy and away from the possession-based style that South Africa always found hard to break down. Ireland’s lineout has faltered this autumn and will need to run smoothly. Erasmus cited multiple examples this week of how Ireland had hurt them in the maul.
When Erasmus played that Test in 1998, this fixture was not a rivalry. Both sides see it differently now because of their shared history and four one-score games. Ireland are also framing this as an opportunity to consider their autumn a success, having lost to the All Blacks and then rediscovered their mojo with a good win against a poor Australia team last weekend. Perhaps more importantly than that, this game will reveal where Ireland really are. Farrell, the Ireland head coach, described it as “a litmus test”.
“Momentum has been built, and we want to finish on a proper high,” Caelan Doris, the Ireland captain, said. “This is the real test now. There’s definitely a rivalry there. There’s a strong understanding of how we both want to play the game. We’ve had some good results. They’ve beaten us over there in 2024. There is a lot on the line. It is about loving the adversity.”
The Irish sporting public are buoyant. Flannery and Jones made Erasmus watch Ireland’s footballers secure a World Cup qualification play-off spot with Troy Parrott’s dramatic late winner against Hungary. “We know things like that are fantastic,” Erasmus said. “We understand that we are the red meat that you guys next want to eat.”
Ireland v South Africa
Saturday, 5.40pm
TV TNT Sports
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