Springbok grievances won't affect Irish prep

Easterby says Ireland are not taking much notice of matters outside their camp

Quilter Nations Series - Ireland v South Africa

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 22 November Kick-off: 17:40 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Ulster; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app

Ireland's preparations for Saturday's Test against South Africa will not be affected by the world champions' grievances with recent refereeing decisions, says defence coach Simon Easterby.

On Monday, backs coach Mzwandile Stick claimed the Springboks have been treated unfairly in recent games after locks Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert were shown straight red cards against France and Italy.

Mostert will face a World Rugby disciplinary hearing, while South Africa have appealed De Jager's four-match suspension, but Easterby insists Ireland are not overly concerned with matters outside of their camp.

"I think there's been a bit of debate around the yellow card, red cards, 20-minute red cards in all the games across the last three or four weeks," he said.

"We're not immune to that, we understand it's happening, we can only control what we can control. I don't think anyone takes a huge amount of notice as to what's been said outside of your own camp and they'd probably be the same.

"If they've got grievances, that's something they'd take up with World Rugby and it won't affect what we prepare for."

Ireland and South Africa's rivalry has produced several captivating contests in recent years. Ireland have won four of the past five encounters, including victories in the 2023 Rugby World Cup pool match and last year's Test in Durban.

The Springboks' sole success in that sequence was a 27-20 win in Pretoria, a week before the Durban match, and Easterby expects "a bit of spice" between the sides at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

"There's plenty of rivalry and they've clearly been a brilliant team across a number of years," added the 50-year-old, who was Ireland's interim head coach in this year's Six Nations while Andy Farrell was on secondment with the British and Irish Lions.

"The players get to play against their players more often now in the URC [United Rugby Championship] and in Europe. Some of them play with them, guys in their squad, who are in the Munster and Leinster squad.

"It's a healthy rivalry and I think it's one that adds a bit of spice to the weekend, but our focus is making sure we deliver what we've set out to deliver over the past four weeks.

"I guess that hasn't always been the case but this week gives us the opportunity to finish in a positive sense."

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been in superb form, setting a new Springboks record with 37 points in their win over Argentina in the Rugby Championship

Ireland prepared for the world champions' visit to Dublin with a resounding 46-19 win over Australia last week, having started the autumn window with a dismal loss to the All Blacks and an uninspiring win over Japan.

South Africa, however, are in excellent form, winning their past six Tests stretching back to their triumphant Rugby Championship campaign.

Their current run includes an emphatic 43-10 win over New Zealand in Wellington, a 67-30 defeat of Argentina and a hugely impressive 32-17 victory in Paris despite playing half the game with 14 men after De Jager's dismissal.

The Springboks attack - which is overseen by former All Black Tony Brown - has been boosted by the emergence of fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has scored six tries in his last four international appearances.

"I think they've always had good athletes. I guess whoever plays at 10 slightly changes the dynamics of their team," said Easterby.

"But [they have] real quality at centre, quality at nine, massive threats on the edges and at 15."

Easterby added: "I think Tony Brown has done a brilliant job at developing their attack and driving a slightly different system to what they had two years ago. He's a fabulous coach, but ultimately they still work to a formula of working hard and trying to out-muscle teams.

"They'll have things up their sleeve which we won't have seen and we must prepare for stuff we haven't seen before, but that's the excitement and challenge and the lads are keen to put themselves under that pressure."