‘The Irish don’t strike me as people who are emotional’

Damian de Allende believes Andy Farrell is not able to motivate Ireland to the same extent as South African coaches drive the Springboks because he is English.

The former Munster centre and double World Cup winner was speaking a month ahead of Ireland’s Test series against South Africa.

Referencing Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber’s motivational techniques, as portrayed in the Chasing the Sun documentaries about the Springboks’ 2019 and 2023 Webb Ellis wins, De Allende said he believes that coaches coming from their own countries can be more effective.

Farrell, who took over as head coach of Ireland in 2019 having served as an assistant since 2016, is from Wigan and has played rugby league for Great Britain and union for England.

The 49-year-old has led Ireland to back-to-back Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam, and a series victory in New Zealand in 2022. He was named World Rugby coach of the year in 2023.

“I think we get the emotional drive,” the 32-year-old told RugbyPass.

“It’s hard to say, I think Andy Farrell is English so I don’t know if he knows much about Ireland and the history and what has happened in the past and things like that.

“Because Rassie is South African and he loves South Africa so much, he’s played for the Springboks, and it means so much to him, he knows how to make us tick as South Africans and he knows how to make South Africa tick.”

South Africa have lost their three most recent Test matches to Ireland, including a World Cup pool game in September.

However, South Africa, Lions series winners in 2021, went on to win the tournament, recording three single-point wins in the knockout stage.

“I don’t know if (Ireland) have an emotional drive,” added De Allende, currently playing with Saitama Wild Knights in Japan.

“The Irish don’t strike me as people who are emotional. I think South Africans are very emotional.

“Because a lot of us have tough pasts. I’m not saying the Irish don’t have tough pasts but there’s a lot of us that came up from absolutely nothing and a lot of us appreciate that so much and appreciate what we have now.

“But there’ll always be that emotional drive that pushes us over the line or gets us going just because we always think back to what we didn’t have and what we have now.”

Speaking to RTÉ Sport in April, Nienaber, now senior coach with Leinster was asked if he noticed differences in Irish players’ mentalities and said: “One is a Third World country, and one is a First World country. It’s two complete opposites.

“I don’t think it’s my place to get into players’ mentalities because every player’s mentality is different.

“I won’t say it’s easy but it’s easier to look for motivation within an environment or culture that you know, a country that you know or the history that you know, it’s easy to fall back on that.”

South Africa and Ireland, who lost out at the quarter-final stage in the World Cup, are ranked one and two in the world.

De Allende, who played for Munster between 2020 and 2022, said he believed the two-Test series in Pretoria and Durban, 6 and 13 July, will be akin to a “war” and referenced the 38-3 loss in Dublin.

“The disrespect we got from them after that Test match, I wouldn’t say the players, maybe the players felt that we were very s**t, which we were s**t on the day,” said the 77-times capped Springbok.

“But the way the media spoke, I think they completely disrespected us.

“For us as a group and for us as Springboks, it is about getting respect back, not their respect, but our own respect. We don’t need to but we really want to beat Ireland. It is going to be an incredible Test match.

“That first game against Ireland at Loftus, whether I play or not, it is just going to feel almost like a war.

“A lot of people give them credit (as) being number one in the world because they play such good footy but that’s going to be a flippin’ incredible battle.”

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