South Africa won’t let Ireland off like Fiji did, Jake White says

Jake White was articulate and passionate in offering an impromptu rugby lesson in the postmatch media conference, sharing his thoughts on a variety of matters including his priorities as Fiji’s head coach of just three weeks standing.

He’d watched his side cause Ireland huge discomfort for 55 minutes of their Nations Championship clash at the Aviva Stadium before succumbing to perhaps a little tiredness and a late onslaught on the scoreboard from the home side.

White, a World Cup winner with South Africa and until recently head coach of the Bulls, knew what question was coming next. Ireland host the Springboks next Saturday in Dublin. He was asked for his thoughts.

He said with a chuckle: “Please, the headline mustn’t read: ‘Jake says Boks to smash Ireland.’ That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying that I know what’s coming, and I think in a lot of ways, Ireland would have seen that.”

He was referring to some of the decisions Fiji had taken with tap penalties or scrum and lineout options that went abegging close to the Ireland line. South Africa won’t be as lenient.

He continued: “[In] those same situations, in the past coaching South Africa, there’s no way that Malcolm Marx is going to say: ‘We’ll take the tap [penalty]. Malcolm Marx will say: ‘Let’s take the scrum’ or ‘We’ll kick it out in the corner, and we’ll take the lineout.’ And that’s because they back themselves in those situations.

“I know how South Africa operates. And they would have taken that scrum there. I mean, they would have backed the fact that they wanted to get a yellow card [awarded against Ireland].

“They would have taken another scrum and another scrum and another scrum, and they wouldn’t have worried about the ref making a call about collapsing or early engaging. And there’s no way you can stop that. That doesn’t mean what they do is wrong or right.

“South Africa, they will take the chances that we [Fiji] had. The 5m lineout opportunities that we didn’t take, and the 5m scrum, and tap penalties, South Africa will turn those into points. And I’m sure that Andy [Farrell] and the players will be aware of that. They’ve been around a long time and they know what’s coming.

“That’s probably why he picked the team that he did, because he wanted to make sure they get a little bit more gun-ready for next weekend, because the easiest thing would have been to change the team, and then they’d probably be one game shy [in prep terms] of playing South Africa next week.”

White also praised the work of former his former assistant with the Boks when they won the 2007 World Cup Gert Smal, who went on to become Ireland’s forwards coach from 2008-2013, helping Declan Kidney’s side to win the 2009 Grand Slam.

“Gert Smal has been with us for two weeks. I see him and Paul O’Connell talking in the corridor now. I’m sure they’re comparing notes and asking what did you think? And what did you do? And how did you do that?

“All of you know how good he [Smal] is, how detailed he is. He’s going to spend some time with the Drua players. I’ve got no doubt that the Drua lineout will get stronger. He’s probably got about six or seven guys playing tonight that are playing for the Drua. So that’s going to help us.

“But there’s no doubt that long-term what Fiji needs is time together. I mean, and it’s no one’s fault, we don’t play at home.”

At 17-15 Fiji were right in the mix. “I’m happy with the first 55 minutes maybe, [but] also a realist. To be fair, it’s a good Irish team. And to go into the changing room 17-15 down and then to stay in the fight until about the 55th minute is obviously pleasing.

“When you go off script, you can imagine against a very polished Irish team that know each other for 10-12 years, you get punished. So, yeah, I’d never sit here saying I’m chuffed because we ended up losing a Test match.

“But I’m also a realist about the fact that the first 55 minutes showed ... even Andy Farrell said: ‘You had us.’ That’s always a great compliment when you play a well-oiled team like Ireland and the coach felt at times that we had them.”