The Springboks are out to bury the ghost of 2017 when they face Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Back then, coach Allister Coetzee’s left the stadium, known as the Aviva Stadium for sponsorship reasons, with their tails between their legs after losing 38-3 to their hosts on the day.
Since then, Coetzee gooi’d ‘n lange and Rassie Erasmus took over to guide the team to World Cup victory in 2019.
Five years on, the two teams will clash again for the first time since that day. This time Ireland are ranked first in the world and the Springboks are world champions.
Of burying the ghost of 2017, now-director of rugby at the South African Rugby Union, Erasmus, says: “We got a proper hiding, but then the next few years things got better and we managed to win the World Cup.
“Five years later, both teams changed dramatically in terms of how they do things and how they play…”
Of Ireland’s status as the top team in the world, Erasmus says: “World rankings are temporary and we don’t always understand how they work.
“But if you look at the team and you analyse the team, they are red-hot… they are just really competitive in all areas of the game…”
As a coach Erasmus has not yet won at the Aviva Stadium - even during his time in Ireland as coach of Munster.
And while they got hammered during their last visit to the ground, the Springboks will also remember that they lost 29-15 at the venue in 2014.
Their last win at the ground was in 2012 when then-coach Heyneke Meyer’s team won 16-12.
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