Irish-born Springbok assistant coach Felix Jones spoke highly of Ireland on Friday as the teams prepare to battle it out at the Aviva Stadium.
Jones, who played Test rugby for the country of his birth before joining the Springbok coaching staff in 2019, shared Kolisi’s sentiments and said a large part of the hosts’ success over the years was due to their effective structures.
“This team specifically are extremely well coached and they have been for a long time,” said Jones.
“And then of course, you have players who have accelerated that success with their hard work, and you can see it in their style of play, their skillset, and the depth of the players coming through.”
When quizzed about how it felt to be Irish going into this massive Test, Jones said: “It’s a little different for us (himself, Jerry Flannery, and Paddy Sullivan, who are all on the management team), but it doesn’t impact on anything. We’re treating this match as we would any other Test for the Boks.”
Elaborating on what has made Ireland such a successful rugby nation, Jones said: “They’ve been in and around the top three in the world for such a long time now, and it probably goes back to the structures they’ve created over the last few decades.
“Their school, club, and academy system all feed smoothly into their national system, and from a high level, they’ve nurtured that and capitalised on ensuring that their feeder structure is in a good place.”