In over a century of rugby, Ireland and South Africa had never played each other on neutral ground. After this match in Paris, it feels like we’re still waiting to see what will happen when they finally do. Judging by the turnout here, it must have been an awful quiet night in Dublin. The country must have been running a skeleton crew, with just the guard who pulled the short straw left to mind the border. It seemed everyone else was here, stuffed into every cafe, bar, bistro and brasserie, squeezed into every train and metro carriage, spread out across every street corner.
Everywhere you looked there were beaming men and women in green, eagerly asking the French, and everyone else, were they going to the match tonight, and who did they fancy for it? You guess the question wouldn’t even have occurred to the travelling Springbok fans. Neither side can much have fancied the other, but the South Africans, outnumbered three-to-one, weren’t about to admit it. For the Irish, hard past experience had taught them that however well their team has been playing before the tournament, it’s best not to assume anything of them once it starts.
