By Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG, June 17 (Reuters) – The chance to win a series away in South Africa provides Ireland with plenty of motivation to register a repeat win over the Springboks when the teams meet at Ellis Park on Saturday, said captain Rory Best on the eve of the second test.
“Motivation is never an issue with us but, look, we know there is another opportunity to create history,” said Best, whose side pulled off an unlikely 26-20 win at Newlands in last Saturday’s opening clash for a first ever Irish test victory in South Africa.
“Now we have an opportunity to win a test series here, which is unbelievably difficult to do and I think that probably the big driver this week. It’s going to take a phenomenal effort to win here. There is a reason very few teams come here and win test series, because it’s so hard to do.
So for us it’s about doing the same homework, if not more homework than we did last week on the Springboks.“We know the Springboks aren’t going to hand history to us. We are going to have to go and grab it and that’s a tough challenge.”
Best, who is edging closer to a century of caps, said the Irish anticipated a tough physical onslaught in the opening 10 minutes.
“We have to match fire with fire and also keep our discipline. We have been concentrating on how we can improve. We take confidence from what we achieved last week but it’s a different track and we are going to face a different Springbok side as well,” he told a press conference on Friday. Saturday’s match Is followed by a final test in Port Elizabeth on June 25.