Beating Ireland will be tough if SA don't have 15 players on the field

IT says plenty about the officiating mess that has bedevilled the game of rugby when Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, on the eve of a mega match against Ireland, says that an express aim is to keep 15 players on the field.

- MIKE GREENAWAY

SPRINGBOK skipper Siya Kolisi says the first step to making lock RG Snyman's 50th cap a toast affair is to avoid getting yet another red card.

(AFP)

The Boks have had backs-against-the-wall wins over France and Italy after losing a lock in each game to a dubious red card.

While the Boks will bank the precious experience they gained from grinding through adversity to the winner's podium, fortitude probably will not suffice if they try to beat Ireland a man down.

Kolisi said exactly that at his captain's press conference on the eve of the Dublin encounter.

"We know how difficult it is to play Ireland a man down. It happened when we were last here (in 2022 when Pieter-Steph du Toit was red-carded)," Kolisi said. "Of course, we want to play with 15 men, and we have been working very hard since the beginning of the season on all the controls required to stay on the right side of the law, from level changing, wrapping, and so on. We have been practicing that over and over," the exasperated captain said.

Last week, when Franco Mostert was sent off, Kolisi battled to keep a civil tongue when talking to out-of-his-depth referee James Doleman.

"The one thing about us is that we are an aggressive team, and we can't move away from that. That is why we work so hard on the laws to try and stay on the field," the skipper continued.