Farrell not 'bothered" by the Boks decisons

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has stated that he and his Irish side are not "bothered" by the Boks' decisions on the rugby pitch and are solely focused on themselves.

Ireland and South Africa are set to face off in what promises to be the highlight game of the tournament at the Stade de France this weekend. South Africa announced their team for the match, including their renowned forwards, with a 7/1 split on the bench.

Much debate surrounds the decision to go with 7 forwards and 1 back on the bench, and whether it is fair or not, but Farrell, like his players, is unfazed by what other teams do.

"That’s what top teams do," said Farrell. "It’s for occasions like this, and I’m sure our emotions will be tested - but how we measure the game that’s in our faces is pretty important.

“It’s like every week. You prepare nice and early, review and learn the lessons, and prepare for the next opposition. But at the same time, you get a sense of when the players own the plan and own the week, etc.

"It tends to be a little quicker than normal in weeks like this - and that’s the case this week.”

'I did pose the question to our forwards coaches, we was going to go with a 7:1 split - seven backs and one forward. But they weren't up for that"

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell touches on the South African selection gambit at today's team announcement https://t.co/bWIDLIpLWK pic.twitter.com/53Kd5eTqu5

— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 21, 2023

Ireland are unbeaten in 15 games. One of those wins was against New Zealand in the third Test victory over the All Blacks in the summer of 2022. Thirteen of the players that played in that game have been named in Ireland's starting lineup to face the world champions.

When asked if he was aware of this coincidence, Farrell admitted that he was unaware. The Ireland coach now hopes that Ireland's game plan will come to fruition.

“I didn’t actually know that," admitted Farrell. "But that is the feeling that we do get because of what we’ve been through and how we’ve trained and prepared as well.

"There’s certainly a spring in the boys' step this week.

"We know that South Africa has a strong plan that they will try to implement, and we’ve got to make sure that our plan hopefully stops that as well. It's about ensuring that we’re not just disciplined in not conceding penalties but also how we stick to our plan so that we can hopefully impose ourselves on the opposition.”

Ireland's game starts at 8pm on Saturday.