Paul O'Connell insists Rugby world Cup quarter-final loss will fuel Ireland
"We would love to have done better at the World Cup but we came across a really good side in the quarter-final that played really well, particularly at the start of the game," continues O'Connell of the last-eight defeat to the All Blacks.
Ireland may end up selecting ten to twelve Leinster players for the first test against South Africa on Saturday in Pretoria.
But they won't be fully deploying the 'Leinster Defence' as per Jacques Nienaber's arrival in Dublin at the start of the season.
It is, after all, formerly the 'Springbok Defence' - they won two Rugby World Cups with it.
Read more: Two Tests in South Africa - that's a tough ask for Ireland at the end of a long season
As Paul O'Connell points out, Nienaber's arrival might have strengthened Leinster, made their players better, but it is potentially something confusing for those not as Leinster.
And with Conor Murray or Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Bundee Aki and Calvin Nash as likely starters, that's four from seven backs who aren't familiar with the tenets.
"It helps our players," says O'Connell of the RWC2023 winning Nienaber pitching up at Leinster, "in that one of the things I notice for us is that the better the coaching is in the provinces the better the players coming into us in Ireland camp are.
"Leinster have added another layer to their game and how they think about the game and that's brilliant for us and an addition for them.
"Jacques has been all-in with them and has been very forthcoming with the information about what they did and how they did it and our boys share that with us too.
"Some of that is helpful to us and some of that can be a bit of distraction because we have to focus on what is important to us.
"I remember back in the day we used to spend a lot of time on opposition teams and it can be a distraction because you have to get right what you are doing right and we struck that balance right in recent years and it is important we continue with that."
This comes at a time where the current set of players are looking to write some wrongs.
They are an Ireland group harbouring deep regrets about the way the Rugby World Cup panned out and, to a lesser extent and more recently, a Six Nations Grand Slam slipping through their fingers.
"We would love to have done better at the World Cup but we came across a really good side in the quarter-final that played really well, particularly at the start of the game," continues O'Connell of the last-eight defeat to the All Blacks.
"We gave ourselves a big mountain to climb and we climbed most of it but we didn't just get there in the end.
"But we had a bit of a turnover going to the next competition, Johnny Sexton moving on.
"We would love to have won the Grand Slam, we could have done it - we mightn't have deserved it but we could have done it. But going on to win the Six Nations, especially with that bit of a turnover in the team, was excellent."
The task at hand is to try and beat the back-to-back world champions in their own backyard.
"It's funny how it goes, the boys enjoy celebrating any victory with any team but you have got to move on quickly.
"You recover from it, you just have to move on to the next thing and the next thing becomes the biggest most important thing ever.
"We have never won a test series here in South Africa and as an Ireland team we have only ever won one game down here so this is a brilliant place for this team now."
Ireland expect the Springboks to kick a lot on Saturday.
"With the length the ball goes and with the temperatures here, you would be mad not to kick the same as you would normally, if not more.
"I know the Bulls kicked quite a lot when and they made a real good job of it when they were playing Leinster the other week.
"I know they kicked a little more often for a little more distance than they normally did but you have to be aware of what might happen and to expect anything."
Ireland also expect the Springboks to run more ball through the backs then they have in the last two World Cup cycles, O'Connell putting that down to their hiring highly-regarded New ~Zealand-born attacking coach Tony Brown..
"Their attack was a little bit different last time, against Wales, Tony was doing a couple of things differently.
"South Africa have always had a way of dialling things up or maybe dialling things down depending on how they want to play.
"Rassie had a certain way of playing when he was at Munster and maybe he had a certain way of playing when he took over South Africa and then he evolved that again and I would say Tony Brown coming in means it is involving again.
"They probably have a few ways of playing based on what they feel for any particular day and we should probably expect a number of different things they will use against us with Tony Brown trying to add a few layers.
"But I can't see them moving massively away from what they stand for."
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