One of them had two old Dutch flags wrapped around his back . . . there were quite a few of them in the ground.

"What did you make of that" I said. I got the apartheid-Zulu anthology of South African rugby woes for the next five minutes.

He wasn't happy.

"To come all this way to be humiliated."

"Yep" "I tell you . . . it will be the longest trip home ever."

"When's your flight?"

"Flight . . . no mate, I live in Dundrum."

The Boks were awful. But don't get carried away, if we had left our top six players . . . O'Connell, Leamy, Wallace, O'Gara, D'Arcy and O'Driscoll . . . out they would have beaten us. Or maybe if the two teams had swapped coaches the match would have been a good deal closer.

As it was 32-15 really doesn't bear out the difference in quality between the two sides.

Officially or unofficially there must be five coloured players in the match 22. They are the rules and Jake White has to work around them and get on with it. Four started. The difference in quality was staggering . . .

Bryan Habana, even though out of position, showed us he was world class.

Bevin Fortuin was the worst full back I've seen play at international level in a decade. The new Blanco, they said . . .

was that Billy Blanco, first reserve for Ireland's shinty team? The only resemblance that he would have with Serge was the girth. Fortuin wasn't fit enough to play at this level. I watched the video again and again . . . he was out of breath, out of position, out of his depth and Jake White must have been out of his mind to pick him. If your team is only as strong as your weakest link then the Springboks are in real trouble.

Lawrence Sephaka was tailing off after 25 minutes . . . you could see profuse beads of sweat running down his brow after 10 minutes. They had no option but to call him ashore at half-time. Strange to see, irrespective of background etc, two players so badly out of condition.

I couldn't really understand what the Springboks were trying to do either from set phase or from the six or seven quality recycles that they got going forward. 'Bosh' rugby, as the English are finding out, is very 2003. The Bok pack had some close in line-outs down at the Havelock Square end with about 10 minutes to go in the first half. Height doesn't necessarily equate to power or intensity. They didn't have the craft, guile or innate intelligence to work their way over from favourable positions, either from the scrum or maul.

They couldn't drive a Fine Gael councillor home with their sorties off the line-out.

If you match them for muscle the game is over. It is rare that an Irish pack can dictate physically to any SANZA side but they did so with total disregard for reputation. A little microcosm of this happened to be the best moment in the match. In the modern game, ball won on the deck doesn't necessarily mean that you can't compete for it. The term counter-rucking seems to have become fashionable. It's something the Irish team have only worked this season, they didn't do it last year. It's also particularly effective against sides that commit only three or four players to the breakdown.

In the 51st minute, the Boks had a scrum. Ricky Januarie threw a pass to Jean deVilliers who was put to ground by Chilliboy O'Driscoll who wrapped him, stood up and stood over him to compete for the pill. The ball wasn't coming back anytime soon. Januarie came to the breakdown, reckoned he had the ball, looked up to assess his options . . . the Boks had got over the gain-line but the ball was so slow that a box kick was the best percentage play.

They didn't even get that. Neil Best and Shane Horgan did a pincer hit and barrelled the Boks off onto the other side of the ruck. Denis Leamy came in, picked the ball up and fed it outside.

Normally you run a high chance of getting pinged for that, but it was done with technical brilliance and aggression. Most importantly, it was done legally. Both players were behind the hind-most foot and both of them went 'through the gate'. Both of them, for big men, hit low and leg drive got them the turnover. Ireland did it five or six times during the game but that moment was the most memorable. They might not be that proficient today. With Phil Waugh, the swamp creature, about ball tends to stay won when he is in the vicinity of the breakdown. I'll still be looking for turnovers though.

There will be a huge amount of attention paid to the scrum today but I think that this area will be inconsequential.

The Aussies will have worked on it hard enough to shore it up . . . Ireland might target it but I don't think they'll get too much change out of it.

The Aussies have tried a couple of combinations in their front row and none of them have stuck. Al Baxter is reintroduced again. Very often after an international test has been concluded, you get a whole host of idiots running onto the field lager-fuelled and they proceed to give a demonstration in the finer arts of rugby. Quite often you would get six fellas who pack down . . . front row versus front row . . . and they pushed each other around the park until they fall over. I am quite convinced that is how Australia's loose head started his career.

Since then he has been minced by every prop he has met at international level, all except Bryan Young (left) who ended up scrummaging like one of those storm-fashioned palm trees after the hurricane when they met during Ireland's trip Down Under earlier this year. If you are in trouble against Al Baxter, that's not a good sign. Bryan Young starts against Greg Shepardson who is a decent prop. It's hard to gauge how good or bad Young is. We will know at 6.00 whether he is from the Will Young school of scrummaging or whether he will make it.

I noticed from the programme notes that Young is nicknamed 'The Bear'.

Anyone I know who is nicknamed 'The Bear' has it for a good reason. They look and behave like a bear, they have bad breath, very few of their own teeth, wild spiky hair, a trip-switch temper, a wire-brush hairy arse and they put in huge bullocking runs down the pitch.

Bryan Young doesn't fit into that category but he will never have a better opportunity to press his credentials than today. He will have 60 minutes to put in a big tackle count, lift with reliability, take the ball on . . . basically make a big impression. As of now there are only two props guaranteed to go to France next year. It would be good to have a bull on one side of the scrum and a bear on the other. Today is his first real cap . . . go out and earn it.

The test today will come down to basic skill execution. Ireland will have to change their strategy a little bit . . . maybe even surprise us. Defensively, Australia are the best side in the world. They are much smarter on the hoof and they have the ability to change tactics quickly.

They are opportunistic and capitalise on mistakes of any scale. If I hear an excuse after the match about Australia preying on Irish mistakes I'll crack up. I don't think we get much change out of them in midfield and I'm pretty sure they will open us behind. We will know how well Graham Steadman is progressing if we can close Australia down.

It was glaringly obvious how to beat the Springboks . . . we executed the gameplan very well, without taking all of our opportunities. The Australian tight five is the best point of attack. The maul will unhinge them if Ireland decide to go that way. Keep it in, suck them in and let the pack impose themselves physically. I don't think Australia have the fire power to respond. This is a benchmark test for both sides. In a battle of wills Ireland have the confidence to edge it.