Ken Borland

Bulls coach Jake White seemed afraid before their match against Leinster that his team and their fans might not realise how daunting their game against the dominant side in the Pro14 competition was going to be, and the reality of what awaits South Africa’s champions was rammed home as they were hammered 31-3 at the Aviva Stadium.

On a miserable day for South African rugby on which the Springboks, Stormers, Bulls and Sharks all lost, the quality, tempo and precision of the European game was on full display, even though those sides are just starting their season. And Leinster look set to be Europe’s flagbearers once again, judging by their polished performance against the Bulls.

“I’m not that disappointed in our performance to be honest. Leinster are the benchmark in European rugby and I’m a realist. That’s the kind of pressure we’re going to have to get used to week in, week out. To give some perspective, Jamison Gibson-Park comes off the bench at scrumhalf and he’s an international. We need to get to that level of skill and depth.

“We need to be realistic where we are and where Leinster are currently. We can’t be down, it was a great learning opportunity even though it wasn’t pleasant. Leinster have Test players who have been together for a long time, guys with 30 Test caps against players with 30 Currie Cup caps. The bottom line is that they exposed us and they have done it to some of the best sides in Europe,” White said.

The Bulls started the match in terrible fashion, trailing 17-0 after just 13 minutes, but they had opportunities to close the gap in the first half, which they failed to take.

“We kicked direct into touch at the start, we gave away a penalty at the scrum, a lineout and then we’re 10-0 down in the first seven minutes. We were under pressure the whole time and it could easily have become 50 points as they ran away with it. But if we could have gone to 10-17 then we would have been a bit more confident.

“I’m proud of how we stuck into it, we showed our resilience and we looked like we held our own in certain passages. That’s the positive – for long periods we stayed competitive. But the challenge is not to get down on ourselves, we have to back ourselves even though things worked easily in the Currie Cup, but we weren’t playing against international opposition,” White said.

A top-class British and Irish Lions side that can play in a variety of ways awaits the Springboks at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

A World Cup winning Springboks side that has a simple, but highly effective game-plan awaits the British and Irish Lions at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

So who is going to win what should be a gripping encounter? Either way, it is surely going to be a Test that keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.

A lack of international rugby since winning the World Cup has been held against the Springboks’ chances, but perhaps a team that has a simple, more focused strategy is going to be able to deal better with what will be a high-pressure game full of intensity.

The Lions seem intent on playing a high-tempo game that stretches the Springboks in the wide channels, but having so many options at their disposal could actually be a negative. Running around like excited puppies is not going to win the tourists the first Test, especially against a side that relishes defending as vigorously as South Africa do. The defeat to the SA A side showed the Lions that they too are human and costly errors were made under pressure.

Obviously having great depth in playing resources is a positive, but the other side of that coin is that there may be a lack of certainty in exactly what the Lions are planning to do on Saturday. Coach Warren Gatland made a great deal of how he and his coaching staff all had different selections when it came to the 23 for the first Test.

Eventually the team was chosen by consensus, but the possibility of horse-trading exists and this could lead to a lack of a united, singular vision for the Lions.

So what are the potential weaknesses of the Springboks?

Their backline all played and shone in that World Cup final win over England in 2019, but key players in Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Makazole Mapimpi could be a little short of rugby.

But, as in all closely-contested Test matches, it is all going to come down to the forwards. The selection of the two players who did not feature in the World Cup – loosehead prop Ox Nche and eighthman Kwagga Smith – would seem to be all about mobility and being able to defend in those wide channels the Lions have used so effectively.

While Nche is a wonderful ball-playing prop, and a strong defender, all eyes – and possibly even the outcome of the match – are going to be on his scrum battle with Tadhg Furlong, who many consider to be the best tighthead in the world.

Smith made his name in the Green and Gold colours of the Springbok Sevens team and he is a wonderful athlete and potent with ball in hand. He will have a key role at the breakdown and in defending the wide channels with Pieter-Steph du Toit. But Smith lacks the physicality of his predecessor, the injured Duane Vermeulen, which could make a difference when it comes to the key gainline battles which South Africa need to dominate.

Re the gainline battle, it is going to be interesting to see how the Lions cope with the likes of Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Rynhardt Elstadt coming off the bench in the second half to back up the mighty Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert.

The fact that the phonelines have been buzzing between the Lions camp and WorldRugby over a South African TMO being appointed and Rassie Erasmus acting as a waterboy on the side of the field suggests the tourists are feeling the pressure.

In many ways they are the favourites, which has allowed Jacques Nienaber and the Springboks to go into the match a little more under the radar.

An epic test awaits, but what a pity there won’t be 55 000 fans cheering on in the ears of the players.