Ireland hammer dreadful South Africa

Precisely!! Does the selection of quotas have an impact? Yes, but I do not think it is the cause of SAfrica's decline. Other factors are at play, starting with skill sets of both coaches & players (both have responsibility!). Then there is the weak Rand driving top professionals out of the country. The denigration of the Bok symbol also plays a role. (The Quota issue is a double-edged sword. Rugby transformation could be SA rugby's biggest asset. What other country 'found' a population of some 40 million potential additional adherents?) This weekend, I look forward to seeing how good this Irish team is...or isn't...

Based on England's effort in 2015 not qualifying for your own RWC maybe the standard from now on.

Agreed.

You mentioned the name Brendan (Mercenary) Venter . If my memory serves me correctly when Alistair Coetrzee was given a lifeline to coach another year by giving him top support assistants aka Brendan & Franco....not to mention Mathew Proudfoot. Well......helluva good that did so far...! Sadly I really do believe we do not possess world class coaches in South Africa. .....for that matter neither do we have world class rugby selectors(for that matter every sport played in SA has to contend with a political selection infuence apart from soccer ....just sad they are ranked 77th in the world in 2017..)

I thought O'Keeffe was ok judging the breakdown (Kolisi isn't a Test opensider), but I agree the scrums seemed like a lottery and not necessarily a fair one. Still, we won enough ball, got into the right positions; so for me, this is primarily a poor backline issue. As Biltongbek asked before the game: with Serfontein out, which of our starting backline could crack any other top eight team? Insipid attack. Terrible midfield; weak halfbacks, tiny wings, mediocre 15.

Neil Francis described SA as rugby minnows but all his articles are worded to get a reaction. The "Irish Media" isn't all the same as Neil Francis. Anyway for years any time Ireland played SA we in Ireland would have to put up with very disrespectful comments from SA coaches, players and press prior to games even though Ireland had a good record v SA.

The SA side still had quite a few top players such as Juan Smith, Spies, Jean DeVilliers, Francois Steyn, John Smit, Januarie and a few others. Also Jake White did claim before the game that no Ireland player would even make his squad except maybe BOD. I was at both games and strange as it may seem Ireland in '06 were more dominant for most of the game. The scoreboard flattered SA that day and it probably flattered Ireland on Saturday.

Poor white, black and coloured players are being selected

Jesse Kriel and Ross Cronje were probably the worst two players on the pitch... Maybe the coach is a quota? But really I don't see how you can say we are picking non-white players over white players. We are simply picking poor players of all colours... Would Andries Coetzee, Kriel or Cronje make any other international side?

It was rather painful to watch. AC is clearly not the man to take the boks to the next WC, but with the political interference and the quota system its going to be tough for any bok coach. Get a world class coach for the boks that is allowed to pick his side on merit and form and the Irish will be exiting the next world cup on 20th October either to World number 1 or the team their media has labelled as one of the rugby "minnows"

Justin. It is no coincidence that the Boks played better when they have less quotas e.g. last All Black test and worst if they have more quotas eg 1st All Black test and Ireland test. Also it is no coincidence that the least transformed Super team made the final in the last two years. Quotas are not the only thing that is hampers Bok rugby but is definitely one of the elements that explains the poor performance of coachesand players. Until the Boks just pick the best they will continue to struggle.

Yes Fionn I'm a Saffa with an Irish name ?and there are many in South Africa with this name that has no relation to Ireland whatsoever. Must say it's the 1st time I came across someone with your name,never heard your name until I saw it on here, just thought I'd mention that?

To be honest, Sean, nothing meant by this, but I find it quite funny hearing someone named Sean referring to South Africa as 'we' when playing against Ireland :P

Harry what do you make of O'Keeffe persistently penalising us at the breakdown? Thought he was extremely bias and never penalizing the Irish when their player went over the ball and not supporting his own body weight. Hands in the rucks same situation and numerous occasions mind you and the scrums where the Irish loosehead scrummed inwards and Beast getting penalized. Whiny Barnes looks at it,sees what's happening and then nothing from him.Think it took us about 4 scrums penalties later to only realised what they were doing.

"can't blame quotas", um when players picked aren't the best in their position then yes you can blame quotas. That's what is happening.

Everyone was terrible, can't blame quotas...

'The Boks did get beaten by Ireland 32-15 in 2006, but White did play a very experimental team to build depth for the 2007 RWC, and Ireland played their best side possible.' Yes Ireland did pick the best possible side but the weather was biblical and depth was far narrower. The side that Ireland put out this time included three wingers with limited test experience, Schmidt could afford to drop Jack McGrath on performance back in 2006 O'Sullivan picked props due to the fact that there was no one else, Ultan Dillane couldn't get on the bench due to the emergence of James Ryan who is just out of the under 20s, there weren't many options at 9 in 2006 Schmidt has at least 4 of them (his son Tim is pretty handy and he can't get in to the Leinster set up) and the options at 13 were limited after O'Driscoll (Trimble played games early on his career at 13). Schmidt set out his mandate of having depth in each position which he has achieved in spades. Last time SA were in Dublin Ruddock and Chris Henry covered openside when O'Brien was out injured and starred. To build his depth Schmidt has been aided by stronger under 20s sides, academies that are producing quality players (academies that upped their games under Australian coaches), players playing in Ireland which helps their conditioning and IRFU programs are working. As for the Boks apart from quotas the head coach can't be helped by Bok central contracts. The union has to justify paying these contracts so certain players are guaranteed selection despite performance. Said it a while back that the Lions players don't work with this Boks attacking set up. The pod set up is different as it more similar to what Cheika uses. With the Boks there aren't back rowers running wide on both sides of the pitch. Whiteley and Jaco Kriel are big losses as they could adapt to the set up that Franco Smith is using. The Lions have that to support in terms of continuity, running in to space which is created by the inside backs who are set up to run straight with the four forwards in the middle to support and make decisions if they get the ball. They create so many holes the middle as they have an inside centre that runs straight going forward and have forward supporters that can take an offload in support to run at a fractured defence rather than a brick wall. When the Boks went wide against Ireland and has been happening since the French series (the Boks ran a lot straighter in that series and played with more pace) is that they aren't committing players when they have the numbers so the run sideways running out of space.

Springboks backs lacked basic handling skills and ability to run straight lines, draw and pass etc. In possession they lacked ideas and confidence and never looked like scoring points. Ireland played a basic game based around an effective kicking game and it seemed the Springboks backs were not numbering off in defence and Ireland were able to make gaps and always had options to go forward. Overall the springboks were poor in defense, set piece and the attack was predictable with backs running sideways or trying to apply a kicking game that they are not comfortable and are natural ball runners. The irony is thay Ireland's game reminded me of the Springboks 10 years ago.

It isn’t embarressing anymore Rhino, this is South African rugby now, I choose not to support South African sport anymore , simply because it is no longer about appointing and selecting the best. I said this numerous times now, our sport is no longer about anything but participation and mediocrity. Why get embarressed?

Poth Ale - The whole backline is really coming together for Ireland, and the further development of the back 3 just reinforces this. Murray and Sexton have to be the best halves going at the moment, and great teams are built off this. Because Ireland have been so strong in the breakdown/rucks/contesting ball as well, is making them very formidable. My eyes must be diminishing with age, as the jerseys looked real similar to me lol. I was not meaning to downplay Ireland by the performance of the Boks, but as a neutral, they did not help themselves much in winning either, and with Ireland on fire, they were thumped. I genuinely hope Ireland continue their awesome run, and consistency will be their main goal at the moment, as well as winning big matches in the RWC.