Save for their South African-reared trio, Jamie Heaslip is the only member of this Ireland squad with experience of playing at Test level in Ellis Park, now known as Emirates Airline Park, having started and starred in the Lions' third Test win in Johannesburg in 2009.
That 28-9 win provided some measure of consolation after the Springboks had won the first two Tests to clinch the series. Heaslip also started in the 74-10 win over the Golden Lions in the tour's second match, whereas Keith Earls (the only other Irish player from that tour who is in this current squad) did not play in either match.
“I’ve been lucky to play there, it’s a cool stadium,” said Heaslip. “It’s going to be such a cauldron and really exciting, especially with the proud support that South Africans bring to these games and then just the Irish people. I don’t know where they come out from but they always turn up somewhere anyway and you can always hear them!”
Putting the scale of the task into perspective, Heaslip said: “I think if you look back on history, it’s quite hard to win a series in South Africa. I think all teams has struggled against it. I think it’s only New Zealand and France is it, who’ve won a series down here?”
And the Lions.
“And the Lions. Well, not in my last trip here but previous trips obviously. I remember watching that DVD (of the 1997 tour), it was awesome. So, we’re all too aware of how difficult it is and just even if it was a one-off game against South Africa they’re a very tough side to play against.
“We’re not getting too carried away with ourselves. We’ve got a lot of work-ons from the weekend and we kind of hit the ground running today now in trying to fix a couple of things from the weekend and focus on this week.”
A week is a long time in rugby, and Heaslip drew comparisons with the back-to-back December games in the European Champions Cup in also highlighting the way results between the same opponents can be flipped a week later.
“We have a lot of experience in European rugby playing back-to-back games and I can tell you I know it’s a club game which is quite different to international rugby, but at European level it’s up there. It’s not too far off international rugby and in those Christmas back-to-back games one team can run away with it one week and then the following week it’s a completely different side.
“The other team that got beat out the gate comes flying back and even in tight games where one game might be tight the first week, the next game is blown wide open.
“So, when you play these internationals back-to-back, with all the analysis that goes in and the knowledge that players have of other players, of what attacking and defensive coaches of both sides are learning from that first game coming into the second game, it poses all sorts of different challenges.
“But at the essence of it, international rugby still boils down to the same thing which is the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is usually the team that comes out with the right outcome.
“I’ve been involved in 86 games with Ireland and when we’ve lost it’s usually because we’re the team that’s made the most mistakes. When we’ve won, it’s usually because we’ve made the least amount of mistakes be that penalty or turnover or whatever.
“So, that’s at the essence of any international game regardless if it’s back-to-back and regardless if it’s a club game but it does add a exciting flavour to it because you learn so much from week one. You also have the head on you that they might not have shown everything, we might not have shown everything, they might have changed their game plan, you know what I mean?
“Then, you come into mind games and stuff like that, so what you do is you try not to get too carried away with it and you just focus in on what you’re doing.”
All that said and done, Heaslip expected that Ireland would derive confidence from last Saturday’s first Irish Test win on South African soil, and especially when reduced to 13 men for 10 minutes when Robbie Henshaw’s yellow card compounded CJ Stander being sent off.
“I think we were actually 3-0 for that period alone and then with 14 men it was great that there was a focus on that kind of task by task, moment by moment challenge that presented itself, be it a scrum and trying to problem solve around that on both sides of the ball. With our lineout, trying to problem solve around that and Dev (Toner) managed that really well with the lineout.
“Conor (Murray) and Rory (Best) managed the scrum very well and then Jacko calling the plays around where we were. Panic didn’t set in and that kind of focus that we had was really impressive, especially with such a young squad that we have here. So, that’s something to take some confidence from.”
Seeing out a further 50 minutes due to Stander incurring the first red card by an Irish player since Heaslip himself against the All Blacks in the tour opener of 2010 was equally satisfying.
“It was great to see that the panic didn’t set in,” said Heaslip. “It was great to see a very matter of fact approach to it, a very professional approach to the game and the different scenarios that presented themselves in front of us.
“I’ve been involved where we’ve got down to 14 men with a sin-binning or whatever and it hasn’t gone our way. I’ve been in CJ’s shoes where you’ve been sent off early and you have to watch a game that kind of just opens up.
“So, to have experienced that at international level against a top-quality side and then to come here on Saturday, as well as it being the first time we’ve won down here – if that was home or away, it was quite a proud moment to see such a collective effort in the squad.”
