‘I love it’ – Ireland coach admires Springboks’ 7-1 split and reveals his tongue-in-cheek reaction

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell joked that he suggested a drastic response to the Springboks’ 7-1 bench split for their Rugby World Cup Pool B clash before praising South Africa’s tactics.

South Africa named a replacement bench featuring seven forwards and just one back for the crunch clash in Paris on Saturday.

The risky move from the Boks prompted speculation about whether Ireland would respond by selecting a 6-2 split.

1-7 split!

However, that did not turn out to be the case, as Farrell and his coaching team backed the more conventional 5-3 split, which they have regularly employed under Farrell’s guide.

“I did pose the question to our forwards coaches as to whether we should go with seven backs and one forward, but they weren’t up for that!” Farrell joked after naming his team.

He added: “I think it’s great; it obviously suits them, and they obviously know their squad and what fits for them, and so do we.

“I think it shows they know exactly where they want to go with their game plan, and we do the same with the subs we pick as well.”

Asked if the Springboks’ selection made him pause about what Ireland should do, he emphatically responded, “No, not at all, never once.”

Farrell said that he did not have a reaction to the Boks’ squad naming and that it didn’t change their analysis of the defending world champions.

“Honestly, I didn’t have a reaction,” he said.

“We analyse South Africa like we analyse everyone else. But when it comes down to it, we take care of ourselves more than anything else and try to understand our plan.

“I think more importantly than the seven-one split, which is a bit irrelevant to us, is the last game we played against each other [Ireland won 19-16 in Dublin in November 2022].

“I’m sure they think they know us a bit better, and maybe that might have influenced the split. But we feel the same. We feel we could have performed better on that occasion, and both teams have the opportunity to show that at the weekend.”

Selection headaches

Farrell selected a largely unsurprising matchday 23 for the important Pool A clash.

However, he says there were some selection headaches when finalising his team.

“There are all sort of different permutations,” he told reporters.

“Even with a five-three split, you can’t cover everything. But you need to be adaptable, which is something we have worked hard at with our planning over the last few years.

“I suppose they [Springboks] have done exactly the same with the seven-one split.

“I love it; I respect it. I like the fact they know their squad and brought four scrum-halves over, a hooker who has not really played in that specialist position before.

“It shows they know their players and which direction they want to go. Hopefully, they think the same about us as well.”

The head coach believes that the Boks’ bench split does not put extra pressure on his players and is backing his replacements to make an impact.

“I am pretty confident in the five forwards we have got coming off the bench and the impact they’re going to have and the type of game we’re going to play when that happens,” he said.

“It doesn’t have any bearing as far as that’s concerned. We’ve been able to analyse them with the seven-one split, and not that much changes.

“Obviously, they are fresh, and they got dominance set-piece-wise in that game [a warm-up test against New Zealand], but we would back our players to do the same.”

READ MORE: Rassie Erasmus hits back at the biggest critic of the Springboks’ 7-1 split