Dion O’Cuinneagain, who holds the distinction of having captained the Irish national team and Springbok Sevens side, says the Boks are on track well ahead of next year’s World Cup but will have their credentials properly examined on next month’s end-of-year tour.
Jacques Nienaber’s side have a tough opening assignment against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday before facing France, Italy and England over consecutive weekends. The clash against Ireland, who are the top-ranked team in world rugby, will be a tough assignment for Nienaber, who has a win percentage of 62% (13 wins from 21 Tests) since taking over from Rassie Erasmus as head coach after the Boks won the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
“With the World Cup in mind, it’s going to be good for South Africa to get one over Ireland on this tour, but the Irish are going to be looking to do the same thing,” O’Cuinneagain told TimesLIVE Premium from his medical practice in Tokai in Cape Town, in reference to the much-anticipated Test at Aviva Stadium.
Ireland and South Africa have been drawn in Pool B at the 2023 World Cup in France and next weekend will be the aperitif before the main course. The last time the two met was in 2017 when Allister Coetzee was still Springbok head coach. Ireland hammered the Springboks 38-3 and the visitors will be keen to right those wrongs.
“They are quite evenly-matched teams. They have the two best front rows in world rugby, both attack off the lineouts and boast a solid defence,” O’Cuinneagain noted of the first and third-ranked teams in world rugby.
“A year out from the World Cup, this is probably the best side Ireland have ever had,” he said, of a nation that has failed to go beyond the quarterfinals at a World Cup. In contrast, South Africa have won three titles from seven attempts since returning from sporting isolation at the 1995 showpiece.
“Jacques is the head coach but Rassie is still pulling the strings in the background,” O’Cuinneagain said, of the two men who coached together at Munster. “The Boks are a successful and experienced unit, and one that should go all the way at the World Cup.”
With Duane Vermeulen a noticeable absentee on the tour owing to injury woes, the incumbent backrow of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese look set to grow in stature on the northern hemisphere sojourn. As a former eighthman for club and country, O’Cuinneagain is enthused by Wiese’s development at Test level and believes that he will get better with Vermeulen now serving as his mentor.
“Jasper has been brilliant,” O’Cuinneagain said of Wiese, who debuted for the Springboks against the British & Irish Lions in 2021 and has 14 Test caps. “He’s playing great rugby and will be doing a lot of the hard yards on this northern hemisphere tour.”
O’Cuinneagain, who spent his club and international career playing in the back row, says that the Springbok loose trio offers an interesting balance because each player brings a point of difference to the team and their divergent skillsets complement each other well.
“A back row of Kolisi, Du Toit and Wiese, with Duane in the background and Kwagga Smith to be used based on how you decide you are going to play gives South Africa strong loose forward options,” said O’Cuinneagain, who played his club rugby for both Ulster and Munster in Ireland. “Kwagga is an open-sider but he can play at No. 8 and if you run into problems in the backline, he won’t be lost out there because he has got a feel for it from his Sevens days. Though he is not always in the starting line-up, he keeps the incumbents on their toes.”
When it comes to Du Toit, who recently returned from injury, O’Cuinneagain believes he is still a way off where he was at the last World Cup. In his experience, he says big guys always take time to fire up their engines. O’Cuinneagain suggests Du Toit needs a long run of game time without injuries to be at his best for the next World Cup.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, who overtook Jean de Villiers as the second-most capped Bok skipper, appears to be peaking at the right time. The 31-year-old is still some way short of 2007 World Cup-winning captain John Smit’s tally of 83 Tests as skipper, but time is on his side. Kolisi is aiming to become the first Bok skipper to win back-to-back World Cups – something only Richie McCaw has done for the All Blacks.
“It’s still far away but what an achievement it would be if Siya becomes the first South African captain to win two World Cups. John Smit tried to do that but Francois Pienaar didn’t get a second chance,” said O’Cuinneagain, who represented Ireland at the 1999 World Cup and was capped 19 times. “Kolisi has been a fantastic ambassador for South African rugby and an unbelievable example for the world game.”
O’Cuinneagain believes winning the World Cup is about peaking at the right time and keeping player workload low enough for players to be fresh when the tournament arrives.
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