{"id":289064,"date":"2023-09-18T07:35:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T07:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289064"},"modified":"2023-09-18T07:35:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T07:35:46","slug":"ireland-are-in-a-good-place-ahead-of-daunting-south-africa-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/ireland-are-in-a-good-place-ahead-of-daunting-south-africa-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland are &apos;in a good place&apos; ahead of daunting South Africa clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Ireland are &#8216;in a good place&#8217; after eight-try Tonga rout, reveals Mike Catt as Andy Farrell&#8217;s side build up to daunting South Africa clash, but the world champions&#8217; extensive attacking threat can cause &#8216;big problems&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ireland have scored 20 tries in their first two wins over Romania and Tonga<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Andy Farrell and Co face the reigning world champions in Paris next weekend<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Rugby World Cup 2023: Click here for Mail Sport&#8217;s latest coverage from France\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Buoyed by their storming start to the World Cup, the Ireland camp are now relishing the daunting prospect of the world champions in Paris on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa rested their front-liners for Sunday\u2019s clash with Romania, with their attention consumed by the challenge of Andy Farrell\u2019s men.<\/p>\n<p>But fresh from an eight-try rout of Tonga in Nantes on Saturday night, the Irish set-up are banking on the benefits of two crushing statements of intent that have brought 20 tries in a week.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge that awaits in the Stade de France could define their entire tournament, but attack coach Mike Catt on Sunday said that the experience of withstanding Tonga\u2019s limited but bruising challenge should be valuable in preparing for the most physical and aggressive opposition in the world game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I thought last night\u2019s performance was very good against a big, physical side, and that big, physical side is coming again at the weekend,\u2019 said Catt, shortly before the Irish team departed for their competition base in Tours.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/07\/75546037-0-image-a-1_1695016916540.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mike Catt admitted that Ireland were in a good place as they build up to titanic clash with South Africa<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/07\/75546041-0-image-a-2_1695016947542.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The attack coach will have been pleased that his side have scored 20 tries in two games already<\/p>\n<p>They will prepare there before moving to Paris on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018South Africa are a world-class side and they\u2019ve got an amazing team going. A lot of them will be rested (for the Romania game); they\u2019ll have a two-week build-up towards our game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That\u2019s why we play the game, that\u2019s why we want to play these games in big competitions, and I think we\u2019ve put ourselves in a good position to be competitive.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The Irish camp provided no update on Finlay Bealham after his removal following a blow to the head against Tonga, and it remains unclear if he is undergoing return-to-play protocols. His fitness should be clarified in the next 24 hours, and his absence from the match-day squad would be significant, given how well he has understudied Tadhg Furlong, and the immense challenge posed by South Africa\u2019s starting front row, and then their feted \u2018Bomb Squad\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Confidence that Dan Sheehan will be fit remains high, and if he is ready to go, then Andy Farrell will find it hard to resist putting him back into the team. \u2018We\u2019re pretty confident that he\u2019s available for selection for Saturday,\u2019 said Catt.<\/p>\n<p>While South Africa\u2019s game-plan will inevitably be sourced in their fearsome forward power, the more nuanced attacking patterns that they revealed in the warm-up battering of New Zealand points to a more extensive threat than is traditional with Springbok sides.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They\u2019re playing a great band of rugby at the moment,\u2019 said Catt. \u2018There\u2019s a real good mix of their physicality and their directness, (and then) their ability to move the ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think having Manie Libbok at 10, Damian Willemse at 15 and Willie le Roux, they will definitely be putting the ball through the hands a little bit more and they are causing problems, big problems, for a lot of teams.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/07\/75546075-0-image-a-3_1695017055558.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>South Africa are posing a somewhat less traditional extensive threat putting the ball through hands in the back line<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/18\/07\/75546091-0-image-a-5_1695017118246.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Finlay Bealham&#8217;s knock to the head against Tonga is the only real selection issue facing Andy Farrell&#8217;s side<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We\u2019re well aware of it, but you still have to stop it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Getting through the first two rounds with potentially Bealham as the only new injury issue provides the sort of fitness bulletin Farrell and his coaches would have dreamed of before the World Cup kicked off.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019re in a good place,\u2019 acknowledged Catt. \u2018Injury-wise, we\u2019re in a good place. Now it\u2019s about recovery and preparing ourselves for South Africa.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It promises to be a grand occasion, and will consume much public attention for the next week.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12530309\/Ireland-South-Africa-Paris-eight-try-Tonga-Mike-Catt-Andy-Farrell.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Ireland are &#8216;in a good place&#8217; after eight-try Tonga rout, reveals Mike Catt as Andy Farrell&#8217;s side build up to daunting South Africa clash, but <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/ireland-are-in-a-good-place-ahead-of-daunting-south-africa-clash\/\" title=\"Ireland are &amp;apos;in a good place&amp;apos; ahead of daunting South Africa clash\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby-union"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ireland are &amp;apos;in a good place&amp;apos; 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