Regardless of what happens in their final big match of the international season the Springboks will end the year as the No 1 team in the world, but crossing a frontier that they haven’t crossed at the Aviva Stadium since 2012 will be a significant moment in the team’s growth.
Lest it be forgotten, it was against Ireland that the Boks started a new era post their second successive Rugby World Cup triumph in France in 2023. Well okay, they did play a warmup game against Wales in London as a loosener for the new international season, but it was when they hosted Ireland in Pretoria in the first game of a two match series that their intended evolution became a talking point.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus names his Springbok side to face Ireland 🇿🇦🚨
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 20, 2025
Kick-off at 19:30 on Saturday night, build-up from 18:30 on SS Grandstand 📺#SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/30Q7QL8Va6
The former All Black flyhalf and Japan and Highlanders assistant coach Tony Brown was one of a few coaches recruited by head honcho Rassie Erasmus in the gap between the World Cup triumph in October 2023 and the new international season in July 2024, but he was the biggest talking point.
What impact would be brought by the introduction of a new Kiwi inspired dynamic to their attacking game?
That first exposure of South African fans to what Brown could bring was positive. Although there were some concerns over a possible decline, or a needed readjustment, to the Boks’ defensive game, remembering of course they’d lost Jacques Nienaber to Leinster, the Boks buzzed in that first test - particularly in the first half.
But a week later in Durban the South Africans were brought down to earth by an Ireland team that continued the momentum they’d created with their attacking game late in the Loftus clash plus a furious physical intensity that appeared to stun the Boks. The Boks recovered after halftime to take the lead, but Kieran Frawley broke their hearts right at the end with his drop-goal.
QUESTIONS WERE ASKED AFTER DURBAN DISAPPOINTMENT
It was a shared series but the Boks had wanted to win it to atone for their defeat in the Pool stage of the 2023 World Cup plus a few setbacks in Dublin dating back to 2017. The questions started being asked then - was Tony-ball, as it was starting to be called, the way to go?
Not that it had been any commitment to all out attack that had sparked the false note at Kings Park from the Boks, for that was far from the case, but South Africans do need a scapegoat after a Bok defeat.
A classic Juan Smith intercept and some Gio Aplon footwork 👏
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 19, 2025
Two brilliant tries from a memorable 23-21 win for the Springboks at the Aviva back in 2010 ✅
Kick-off at 19:30 on Saturday night, build-up from 18:30 on SS Grandstand 📺#SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/yGfGEgmhEO
I can remember flying out of Durban two days after the game and some of the newspaper headlines flashed up on the screens you see when you go through the security process at King Shaka International Airport were flashing a theory that the Boks had played the wrong game.
I knew it was too early to be passing judgement, but nonetheless it felt like the positives of what had happened in Pretoria had been expunged from memories and the Brown era was stillborn.
It’s racing along now though, with critics and fans alike now able to see the blend to the Bok game that Brown was talking about when he said at the start that it wasn’t his intention to turn South Africa into New Zealand but to mix something new into what already existed.
In no game was that better illustrated than the next time the Boks played in Durban, when they buried Argentina in the second half of a decisive Castle Lager Rugby Championship game with a sublime mix of power and skill.
That and the second half of the All Black game in Wellington was arguably the finest window advertising what the Boks can achieve now that they are evolving, although if they hadn’t overplayed later on, we might well be looking back at the first 20 minutes of the game against the Wallabies at Ellis Park as being right up there.
CHANCE TO CLOSE THE CIRCLE
The Boks haven’t quite hit the 80 minute performance they are aiming at, but the evolution has been marked and undeniable and now they get the chance in effect to close the circle against the team they started this cycle playing against.
What better way to confirm their evolution is there than to win against your hoodoo opponents at what has become your hoodoo venue and who beat you on your home soil the last time you played them right at the beginning of the process?
And that neatly encapsulates why the Boks should start as favourites in Dublin, even though there is some truth in the theory that when you have a bad record at a venue there has to be some reason for it. Make no mistake, Aviva Stadium is a difficult place to play as the visiting team, and Ireland haven’t lost often there in recent years.
SA WERE TOO WASTEFUL IN RECENT IRELAND GAMES
However, when the Boks lost there in 2022 it was a close game where they were a bit profligate in the sense that they left a lot of points on the table. It will be recalled that Handre Pollard was out injured, Manie Libbok had yet to be capped even though he was on tour, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was only making occasional appearances for the Stormers and usually at centre.
Damian Willemse was at flyhalf and was entrusted with the goalkicking. In a game decided by fine margins, unreliable place kicking proved crucial to the end result.
It was mighty close too when the Irish snuck home in the World Cup game in Paris, and again at least one missed kick from the tee springs to mind, as well as some crucial errors late in the game. Had the Boks been less wasteful with their opportunities, they would have won that game.
The South Africans have evolved since then, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has arrived as a class act who can bring a completely different dynamic to the Bok game with his allround abilities. Last time he faced Ireland he was just two late cameo appearances into his international career and he was pressed into playing fullback for 78 minutes because of the early injury to Willie le Roux.
There’s been sufficient growth to the Bok game and to their confidence surely to suggest they have made up the narrow margins that they have lost out to in four of their last five games against Ireland. Has Ireland improved to the same extent?
They did win well against Australia last week, but it wasn’t quite the rousing performance the 46-19 scoreline might have suggested.
HOME RECORD SHOWS IRISH TO BE FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS
You have to take Ireland seriously and they may be more difficult to overcome than France were two weeks ago. If they get quick ball they can hurt the Bok defence as they had their attacking shape back last week.
The last meeting between the Springboks and Ireland ended in heartbreak 💔
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 19, 2025
Saturday night presents a new chance for both teams to write the next chapter of the rivalry 🍿#SSRugby | #QuilterNS pic.twitter.com/m6n9Lo9TFc
They also have in Jamison Gibson-Park, their scrumhalf, a match-winner who did not play in the South African series last July, and his role could become even more important for his kicking game if, as is being predicted, the match is played in the wet.
But the Bok forwards will back themselves to negate what Ireland might boast behind the scrum and we have seen in the last few games just how effective they are at implementing a gear shift once the replacement forwards come on. And in the last two games that was despite the red cards that would have subverted the planning.
Mention of red cards is of course a reminder of the blight on modern rugby that sometimes makes it so hard to predict what might happen. Ireland have won 23 of their last 25 games at the Aviva Stadium, and that must say something.
The Boks can’t play the bulk of this game with 14 men and expect to win. It is an incredibly hard place for a visiting team to win. But the Boks have become used to conquering what is hard and that is why they start this game as favourites.
Teams
Ireland: Mack Hansen, Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Ryan Baird, Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan, Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter. Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Paddy McCarthy, Finlay Bealham, Cian Prendergast, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Tom Farrell.
South Africa: Damian Willemse, Canan Moodie, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi ((captain), Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Boan Venter. Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Andre Esterhuizen, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Kick-off: 7:40pm
Prediction: SA to win by 8