Massive challenge awaits Springboks in Ireland – Ruan Nortjé

Making the Nations Championship final is now out of the Springboks' hands, as they need to beat Ireland and hope England down the All Blacks. Springbok lock Ruan Nortjé is bracing for a huge challenge against Ireland in Dublin this coming weekend, where the Boks will be gunning to bounce back from their loss to France and give themselves a shot of reaching the Nations Championship “final”. The Boks now sit second on the south section log on 21 points, after picking up just one losing bonus point from their 21-19 defeat in Paris on Friday night, while the All Blacks picked up two points in their stunning upset loss to Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, to move top on 22 points. Going into the final pool round, a bonus point win for the All Blacks against England will secure their place at the top of the standings and send them into the main game of the Finals Weekend at Twickenham in London. Full house of points The Boks will thus likely need a full house of points against Ireland, and some assistance from the English to either stop New Zealand getting a try scoring bonus point, or beat them, to help the South Africans finish top. The Boks and Ireland have built up an entertaining rivalry over the years, with the last eight meetings between the two teams split down the middle at four wins a piece. Nortjé is expecting another close encounter. “We know it’s a massive challenge awaiting us in Ireland. There’s been a rivalry building up between us over the last few years, and it’s always a huge game against them, so we’ll have our work cut out for us,” admitted Nortjé. “So our focus has to be on ourselves this week. We have to make sure we fix the problem areas of our game, and at the end of the day go out there and represent our country and the South African people. Hopefully we can rectify this defeat and make them proud again next weekend.” France loss Looking at the loss to France, where the Boks trailed 21-7 at the break, before their second half comeback fell just short, Nortjé explained their inability to convert chances and too many errors proved costly. “First of all, credit to France. They came out (firing) and it was an awesome occasion to be a part of. It is always special to play at Stade de France,” said Nortjé. “I think there were too many errors from us. And the biggest thing is not converting (opportunities into) points when we get into the (opposition) 22m. So there are definitely a lot of work-ons for us going into next week. “But (I am) always proud of the effort from the boys, never backing off and fighting till the end. But we know South African people love it when we win, so it’s definitely a tough one for us to take.”