Springboks focused on present, not past, ahead of Ireland clash, says Erasmus

In recent clashes between the two sides, it is Ireland who has the upper hand, winning each of the last three encounters.

The Springboks' last win over Ireland came back in 2016 under former head coach Allister Coetzee, with Erasmus and ex-head coach Jacques Nienaber both failing to get over the line.

Erasmus insists his charges do not see Saturday's clash as a matter of unfinished business, however, as they don't approach matches with that kind of mindset.

"We don't use those kinds of words," he told reporters.

"I think they probably from their side have unfinished business to try and get the world number one ranking again, but we don't talk like that.

"We just analyse players, we do checks on how their teams performed in URC and European Cups, and we pick our teams accordingly to see what players we think can do the job for us on Saturday, and we are trying really hard."

Erasmus added that Ireland deserved all three of their most recent wins over the Springboks but said that there was no "score to settle" and that he wouldn't trade those defeats for the other successes the side has had.

"We try to stay in our reality, and our reality is that we are playing at home against the team that has beaten us," he said.

"All the games were really close, and they deserved all of those games, but it's never 'hell we have got a score to settle'.

"I mean, I would rather take the World Cup - two World Cups - and a British and Irish Lions series and take the three losses, but we never go out to lose. We definitely didn't pick this team to try and lose."

Explaining Libbok's absence

Erasmus also explained his decision to select rising star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu on the bench ahead of Manie Libbok, who missed out entirely on a place in the matchday squad.

The Bok coach said that the decision to select six forwards on the bench led to Feinberg-Mngomezulu being favoured over Libbok as he can cover more positions in the backline.

"Sacha certainly brings something to the party in that we don't make too many positional changes in the 6-2 split," the Bok boss clarified.

"That is actually where Manie misses out because if the number 12 goes down, then Sacha can go straight into 12 because he played there for the Stormers, and if the 15 goes down, he can go straight into 15 and the same for 10.

"Whereas with Manie, him not making the team is purely because we went with the 6-2 split; he is not as comfortable at 12, meaning Handre Pollard would shift and Manie to ten or full-back, or we would have to move Cheslin Kolbe to full-back with the backline all shifting one position out.

"So it just made more sense to go with Sacha, who can cover all those positions."

He added: "Sacha, similarly to Grant [Williams], also offers us additional options in the backline, as he can cover fly-half and centre, while Grant is efficient at scrum-half and wing, which places us in a good position with the 6-2 split."

READ MORE: Handre Pollard eager to embrace Tony Brown's fresh approach to Springbok attack