Farrell must rally Ireland players for one last effort after URC dejection

WHAT A STRANGE feeling it must have been for the Leinster players standing on the pitch at Loftus Versfeld after defeat to the Bulls and hearing The Cranberries’ Zombie blasting out around the stadium in Pretoria.

This was the South African version, of course.

“In your head, in your head… Rassie, Rassie Rassie!” roared the South African supporters who had just gleefully watched the Bulls players greet the final whistle like they’d won a trophy.

The celebrations were warranted. Leinster are still a huge scalp and were the favourites to win this semi-final and the URC. Jake White came up with a smart plan to beat them and his players executed it superbly to win.

In the aftermath, Leinster lock Joe McCarthy looked shell-shocked as he stood with his hands on his hips, staring vacantly at the ground. He was among the Irish players who were in Stade de France for those special Zombie nights in Paris at last year’s World Cup, pool-stage wins over South Africa and Scotland met with spine-tingling renditions of the Cranberries’ classic.

This was supposed to be Irish rugby’s new anthem but the Springboks supporters repurposed it during the World Cup in tribute to their enigmatic leader, Rassie Erasmus. Unsurprisingly, the man himself loved it.

We’re going to be hearing it again soon, probably as early as next week for those of us who tune into the URC final between the Bulls and Glasgow. It has clearly become a key tune for the folk at Loftus Versfeld.

And we’ll presumably be hearing it again on 6 July when Ireland take on the Springboks at the same stadium in the first of their two Tests. That will definitely be the case if Erasmus’ men win in Pretoria. Whether they’ll play it if Ireland win remains to be seen, but the Irish supporters would certainly give it a go even if it wasn’t blasted over the stadium tannoy.

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Just like that, the Irish provincial season is over and it has been a trophyless one. Connacht didn’t make the URC play-offs, Ulster recovered from a wobbly patch to at least feature in the quarter-finals, while Munster and Leinster were beaten in semi-finals that they were favoured to win. Leinster reached the Champions Cup final but came up short in devastating fashion for the third year in a row.

Ireland name their squad on Wednesday.

Zombie featured at Thomond Park for the Munster team’s run-outs onto the pitch before kick-off and the second half on Saturday, as is now the norm, but there wasn’t to be a victorious rendition post-match. Instead, the home supporters, players, and coaches were left with a bitter taste of regret at missing a big chance to retain the URC.

Andy Farrell – who will name his touring squad on Wednesday – was in Limerick to watch Munster’s defeat to Glasgow. He surely would have loved one of the provinces to win the URC, allowing their players to carry winning momentum back into Ireland camp at the end of this week.

You could say there is one positive in his key players not being exposed to injury in next weekend’s final, instead getting a chance to freshen up before the trip to South Africa, but there is nothing like being battle-hardened and invigorated by winning.

Munster and Leinster’s player will lick their wounds in the coming days before attention switches to the Springboks series, one that the South Africans are champing at the bit for. Erasmus’ men will be channelling the spirit that the Bulls brought for their win over Leinster.

“Honestly, we told each other from the beginning that they’re coming to our house and you don’t come to Loftus and think it’s going to be a fun day for you,” said outstanding Bulls number eight Cameron Hanekom after they beat Leinster.

His performance opposite Caelan Doris suggested he could have a part to play in the Ireland series.

That mindset is something the Boks are tapping into. They feel they owe Farrell’s team a beating. Three consecutive defeats against Ireland doesn’t sit well with them and Erasmus has clearly been pressing all of their emotional buttons already.

So it’s imperative that Farrell once again does what he does so well – set the tone, lift the energy, get smiles on faces, and give his players a mission.

There are obvious themes for Ireland such as taking down the back-to-back world champions and winning a series in South Africa for the first time. Farrell’s men will be in the role of underdogs, regardless of what Erasmus or anyone else says. The Boks have already been installed as five-point favourites for the first Test.

Munster's Peter O'Mahony after defeat to Glasgow.

Ireland have only played in Loftus once before, losing 33-0 to a Springboks team that included a back row by the name of Rassie Erasmus.

David Humphreys also played that day as Joost van der Westhuizen and co. ran riot, so he’ll be hoping for something very different as he watches on from the stands in his new position as IRFU performance director.

Maybe it’s helpful that all of the Ireland players on the Leinster team will have had the experience of playing in Pretoria so recently, or perhaps it’s a bad thing that they had to feel their lungs burning at altitude, then stand there listening to Zombie and thinking of how tough a challenge lies ahead against the Springboks.

Farrell will demand that the scale of the test brings out the best in his players after the longest of long seasons. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since Ireland’s players returned to pre-World Cup training camp and even though they’re managed better than anyone in the world, there must be at least some mental fatigue at this stage.

Farrell’s job is to rally his players to take down the best team in the world.