To have any chance of success, Ireland must follow France's recent example and meet the physical confrontation head-on

MARC LIÈVREMONT made a very astute observation prior to sending out his French team that beat South Africa two weeks ago: the All Blacks provide a massive technical challenge, the Wallabies provide a tactical challenge and the Springboks provide the greatest of physical challenges.

I have always used another saying when taking on an ultra-physical team: You don’t take a knife to a gun fight.

To live with South Africa, as France proved is possible in Toulouse, Ireland must meet the physical confrontation head-on. Otherwise their technical and tactical qualities will not be allowed time or space to breath.

To match the ’Boks physically, a team must reverse the roles. The simplest way of describing this is how do you stop a defence running at you fast? You run at them faster. Simple language but it’s the only way to slow them down. Simple and brutal.

This challenge at the scrum is to win the ten -inch battle, which is the gap between the packs at engagement. When the referee calls ‘engage’, Ireland must move across that gap faster than the South African eight.

BJ Botha, who I coached at Ulster, is one of the best tighthead technicians I have ever seen. BJ will go very low and fast on engagement. No prouder Springbok has ever worn the jersey. It is a massive day for BJ to play for his beloved Boks once more, ironically, against Ireland. Cian Healy will know BJ is coming.

A lot has being made of the Irish frontrow and its perceived weaknesses but I believe a lot of the responsibility rests with the locks. The secondrows generate the power for the scrum and the team. I believe at scrum time they were not effective enough against Australia. In the latter part of the Lions series Simon Shaw scrummaged on the tighthead side and stabilised a scrum that had been shredded in the first Test.

After Australia’s defeat to Scotland former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer was lamenting the lack of secondrow talent, noting no team can win in modern rugby without powerful locks. South Africa have the two best locks in world rugby in Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha.

Matfield’s attention to detail in preparation for defending opposition throws is as good as anything displayed in the professional era.

In the summer Matfield marked Paul O’Connell out of the lineout and, to a large extent, out of the early part of the Test series. This constant pressure saw the Lions lifters and throwing-in eventually crumble. If it is any consolation, Matfield did the same to the All Blacks in the Tri Nations.

If Ireland are to win quality ball today they must return this pressure in spades. This can be done on their own ball using decoys around Matfield and hitting Jamie Heaslip as the primary jumper. In other words, throw it away from Matfield. However, the man’s meticulous preparations allow him to identify visual triggers so he can react to where the ball is going. Gert Smal knows all this.

On the South African throw, in a nutshell, Ireland have to make the Springbok lineouts a dockyard brawl. Another former Wallaby coach and player Dave Brockhoff used to say, “Give them fractured fruit.” Messy ball that becomes difficult to use.

The breakdown is the next contest. Heinrich Brussow is a scavenging backrower who always attacks the ball. Ireland must not allow Brussow to target stationary ball.

Many years ago a theory was developed in Australia to minimise the brilliance of the great All Black openside flanker, Josh Kronfeld. Like all great plans it was simple. When you have the ball run hard, using footwork before contact to get to the spaces between the defenders. On contact, take three fast steps. On the way to ground twist, roll, buck and flay your elbows. If you hit an All Black, all the better, if you hit a Wallaby it is collateral damage. Next man in must be lower than Kronfeld and remove him from the area. It proved catastrophic for the great NZ digger.

This is how Ireland must deal with Brussow.

South Africa have developed a tactic that was honed by the Australian cricket team – identify the opposition’s two best players then physically and psychologically remove them from the contest. O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll are these targets. Matfield (and Botha away from the lineout) will hunt O’Connell again. One must assume the lack of selection recently of such a magnificent outside centre like Jacque Fourie has been down to internal politics in South African rugby as opposed to form selection. Fourie, along with Conrad Smith, are the only centres with the same class as O’Driscoll. Fourie will go at Brian whether he has the ball or not.

The Boks will also target Jonathan Sexton. When he is first caught with the ball they will be fighting each other to get to him. Physical and verbal intimidation will follow. They will run at him early. Make him tired. Bring him to a place he has never been before. I expect the young man to come through with panache because he possesses self-belief in buckets. The only person in Ireland not surprised by his selection was Jonathan himself.

Stephen Ferris is primed for a big performance. This date would have been underlined in the diary as soon as he was forced out of the Lions tour by an unfortunate training ground injury. Physically, he is an incredibly damaging player. However, Stephen must remember to use his footwork before contact.

I don’t apologise for loving the physical confrontation rugby brings. I suspect the sight of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere champions going at it hammer and tongs, fuelled by the passion of this encounter, will be loved by all Irish fans.

Officials from GAA and soccer should watch the match closely as well. In amongst this massive physical clash you will notice the players have no body piercings or “Jedward” hairstyles. You won’t see them rolling on the ground with a fake injury, carried off and then come trotting back on moments later.

Why? Because, as Danny Cipriani learned at Wasps, you would get a clout on the ear from the team leaders if you broke the code of pride in the jersey and pride in the actions of those who wear it. The supporters are not separated by fences. You see for over a century the discipline of physical confrontation on the field has led to personal discipline and respect off it. All the players will call the referee ‘sir’ and his word is accepted as law. There will not be any invasion of an officials’ personal space or intimidation. No screaming for a replay after the final result (Okay, the TMO helps).

If that is old-fashioned and politically incorrect I don’t apologise.