Ireland wary of physical Springboks' new-found attacking edge

While Ireland know South Africa will bring their trademark physicality to Saturday's massive World Cup clash in Paris, they are growing increasingly wary of the Springboks' attacking prowess as well.

The Boks have long held a reputation as a forward-dominated and physical side who wear down their opponents but are increasingly providing a genuine attacking threat as well.

That's little surprise with players like Manie Libbok, Damian Willemse, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Willie le Roux coming to the fore and being given license to express themselves when opportunities arise, and it's definitely not going unnoticed by the Boks' opponents on Saturday.

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"They're playing a great brand of rugby at the moment," said Ireland assistant coach Mike Catt.

"There's a real good mix of their physicality and their directness to their ability to move the ball.

"Having Manie Libbok at No.10, Damian Willemse at No.15 and Willie le Roux - they're definitely putting the ball through the hands a little bit more and they're causing big problems for a lot of teams.

"We're well aware of it, but still you've got to try and stop it.

"You're playing against one of the best teams in the world. This is what World Cups are built on."

What makes the Boks a particularly dangerous opponent these days is that they haven't lost their fearsome set-piece ability or their strangling defence. They just seem better equipped to take advantage of the attacking opportunities their physical dominance creates.

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South Africa's rush defence has caused all kinds of problems for their opponents this year, and Ireland know they'll have to find a way to get around it.

"South Africa have always been very aggressive in their defence and it's worked very, very well for them.

"It definitely puts your skillset under pressure and it's something we've been working on over the past couple of years.

"A lot more teams are becoming a lot tighter and coming with a lot more line speed. There's still space around, you've just got to find it in different ways."

The No 2-ranked Springboks face No 1-ranked Ireland in a titanic battle for Pool B supremacy at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night and you can watch the entire match live on SABC Sport.com's live streaming channel.

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