‘It’s hilarious’ – Andy Farrell laughs off Rassie Erasmus jibes

The Ireland coach dismissed the suggestion that the clash between the world’s No 1 and 2 sides was some sort of decider, arguing his side have not earned the right to be in that conversation with the double world champions.

Erasmus took a stab at naming Farrell’s team on social media last Saturday, but the Ireland coach had the last laugh as he sprung a major surprise with the inclusion of Jamie Osborne at full-back.

The Springboks have not been shy about building up the sense that they have something to prove against Ireland, with Eben Etzebeth, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe all stoking the flames.

Farrell is unperturbed.

Ireland team to face South Africa

“It’s hilarious. 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,” he said of Erasmus’ mind-games.

“There’s a few spelling mistakes there, a few weights that were wrong. I thought it was great.

“It doesn’t get any bigger, really, does it?

“It’s a bit different, I’m not on social media, but I know there’s a hype out there. I get told by him [his media officer] that it’s happening.

“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.”

Asked if he felt this was some sort of decider about who the best team in the world is, Farrell was dismissive.

“Decider for what? What have we won?” he said. “We know our history, we keep it quietly, softly to ourselves.

“We know who we represent, what it’s all about and we keep that softly to ourselves as well.”

The Irish players are in the 13th month of their season and, while they’ve won the Six Nations, they’ve also suffered plenty of heartache for their provinces.

Farrell insisted he has no concerns about his squad’s state of readiness.

“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 when a big opportunity comes around.

“It was never, ever mentioned that it was the end of the season going to New Zealand.

“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.”

Osborne and Co are in for an intimidating atmosphere at Loftus Versfeld against a hyped-up Springboks side with many drawing parallels with the violent clash between the Lions and the Boks at the same venue in 2009.

“The game’s changed a little bit since then, hasn’t it?” Farrell said.

“There’s a few more cameras around and there’s a new law with the TMO coming in so I don’t expect that.

“Otherwise, if one team’s lawless, the other team is going to run away with it. That’s the nature of the game nowadays. A lot’s changed.

“I’d probably sum it up like this: We’re unbelievably fortunate to have an opportunity to come to South Africa, to such a prestigious ground as well, a ground where a lot of our lads have played but they won’t have played in the type of atmosphere when the South African people come together, you know?

“That’s perfect for us, it’s exactly what you want.

“We were so fortunate, going to New Zealand and having the tour over there – it’s about finding out about yourself, it’s about growing. Trying to get a bit of respect for yourself and hopefully [from] the opposition as well.

“You can’t get too challenge or test yourself in these extreme ways unless you’ve got the perfect opportunity.

“It’s here, it’s a privilege to be here and see what we can do.”