Pack of assumptions may be misleading

Ireland v South Africa: Uneasily hangs the tag of favouritism, even in a relatively golden era, and all the more so when facing one of the world's historical superpowers with just two wins in 17 attempts over the previous century.

Nonetheless, beating the more established powers such as the 1995 world champions is all part of the process towards this Irish team becoming major contenders themselves.

While accepting the latter, Irish forwards coach Niall O'Donovan is inclined to dispute the favourites' tag to begin with.

"Two victories in a lifetime isn't a great record when it comes to playing against South Africa, and once in the last 40 years, which just happened to be two years ago," he says.

"No matter what XV South Africa bring, it's going to be difficult to beat anything that comes out in a Springbok jersey. We'd be treating it in the exact same way as we did two years ago; we wouldn't see ourselves as favourites going into this."

Fuelling such unease is the fact these remodelled Springboks are an unknown quantity. If the Boks themselves don't know what to expect, then Ireland's coaching staff must be equally in the dark.

Some things don't change, though, and with a typically gargantuan South African pack, a fearsome physical challenge is taken as read.

"They're big, but they're athletic as well and they're strong," admits O'Donovan, "so it will be a very physical contest for us up front and if we can win parity up there then anything can really happen after that."

Though he would be loth to admit it, that Ireland generally do achieve parity up front is in large part thank to the enduring excellence of their lineout. In theory, the Boks ought to have more analysis of Ireland's throw than Ireland have of theirs, which as ever leaves O'Donovan and co with the choice of either quickening their lineout or changing it.

The one change to the Irish lineout is a significant one, given that the dart-thrower, Rory Best, will be making his starting debut at Test level.

Pointing out that Best has been well rehearsed in the Irish system over the last year, O'Donovan adds, "His last few games with Ulster have been very good and his lineout has been excellent, so I've no problems with Rory slotting in well there."

The Boks will almost certainly target Ireland's perceived Achilles' heel at scrum time.

Citing the conveyor belt of props from South Africa, O'Donovan maintained they will invariably have a strong scrum.

While acknowledging the perception would be that Ireland and the provinces have relatively weak scrums, he also maintained that they generally obtain 80 or or 90 per cent of their own ball, the ones that get away being down to lack of concentration more than lack of ability.

"I would hope that we will get our concentration right through the whole game, and get all the scrums right, and get rid of all the talk that the Irish scrum is weak, because when you go out looking for a weak scrum you'll find a weak scrum, and I think our scrum can be as good as anything else around," he argues.

Even without the changes in personnel, the Springboks' defence is renowned for its speed off the mark and its unpredictability, sometimes applying a blitz defence, or alternatively even with one or two shooting up.

Offensively, the make-up of these Boks - with three new faces in the outside three, Brian Habana moving to outside centre and seemingly something of a nothing-to-lose approach - would lead one to think the tourists might be more expansive than of late.

The Ireland defensive coach, Graham Steadman, accepts they are something of an unknown quantity.

"What we've got to do is sow the seeds of doubt early on, not let them get into the game and build on confidence," he says. "That's certainly a job our starting XV have got to do. Off the back of that we do know they have a lot of quality and pace out there, and certainly a nice balance of experience and youth. But like Niall has touched on, it's about us at the weekend. We've got to turn up and perform come kick-off time, and finish the job off."

Brian McLaughlin, the skills coach, echoed O'Donovan's point that Ireland have progressed since the meeting two years ago, particularly in his specialised area, the breakdown, during last summer's tour to New Zealand and Australia.

"With Denis (Leamy) and Wally (David Wallace) there we are exceptionally quick in our back row and I think it's very important that we get there first. If we get there first it makes the job easier for the halfbacks to get the clean possession away to our strength."