It’s official, the Springboks will be the underdogs at this year’s Rugby World Cup in France.
The irrepressible form of Andy Farrell’s Ireland, coupled with the joie de vivre of Fabian Gathie’s France has thrown this year’s tournament wide open, and when teams start arriving in France late in August and early in September, it will be clear who the favourites will be.
Ireland’s surge to win the Six Nations not only underlines their incredible shift under Farrell to the World’s worthy No 1 side at the moment, but also makes them odds-on favourites for the Rugby World Cup.
That argument will be one between them and the French, who dismantled a brave but ultimately poor effort from Warren Gatland’s Wales side on Saturday to end second.
But the two sides are streets ahead of the rest of the Six Nations and will head to the tournament as teams that make both fans and the bookies giddy with excitement.
The weight of pressure and expectation will come down on their shoulders - especially on an Irish side that has never made it past the quarterfinals of the showpiece tournament.
Will that weight be too heavy, or will their confidence and form inspire them to the most remarkable run in northern hemisphere history with a Webb Ellis trophy to boot? Only time will tell.
But the Irish aren’t shirking from the challenge and while some may call it cocky, when you’ve dominated a Six Nations like they have, and claimed a Grand Slam like they’ve done, and you are World no.1, then it is easy to understand why.
Farrell made the bold claim that this team would be better at the World Cup than they currently are and sounded a warning to all potential rivals.
“I have just been saying to Johnny (Sexton) there is bigger fish to fry than this (Six Nations), so we are on to the World Cup … we are a good side that has nowhere reached its potential,” Farrell said at the post-match press conference.
“I have been saying over the last couple of weeks that this is what we are striving to do. We will get a few people back to compete and to train hard.
“You know, everyone is going to get better in the summer when we get to spend a lot more time together, so we expect our side when we get to the first game of the World Cup to be a lot better than what we are now and that is the reality.”
FRIGHTENING FRANCE
While Ireland still have to find a way to deal with that pressure, France have already been to three World Cup finals in the past, and lost all three - twice to the All Blacks and once to Australia.
Their last foray in 2007 at home was a total disaster -albeit a forward-pass win over the All Blacks - although they were nowhere near the confident side they are at the moment
And given the way they have played over the last fortnight against both England and Wales, it is understandable why they are in a cocky mood, with coach Fabian Galthie saying teams are “scared” of them now.
“I hope that teams are scared of us now. We’re certainly the team to beat,” Galthie said after France’s win over Wales.
“We do have an impressive victory ratio. We’ve only lost once here [in Paris]. We started the Six Nations in a lacklustre way, we did as well as we could.
“Four victories from five in four Six Nations, we have a success rate of 80 per cent in the Six Nations. So it’s very positive, if we have to do a purely factual round-up of things.”
UNDERDOG SPRINGBOKS
So where does this leave the Springboks and their title defence in the dazzling array of glory that has followed the French and Irish sides.
There is no doubt that the draw, which has lumped the top five sides in the world on the same side has done nobody any favours.
And such is the immense gulf between the top four currently and the rest that the dogfight that awaits will be brutal and intense, precisely the type of fight that the Springboks are built for.
The Boks won’t mind the fact that they will fly under the radar, getting less of the spotlight than the host nation and the emerald green side, and they will plot their run carefully.
And given their history, and the fact that they love knockout tournaments like this, the coaching squad of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have already been hard at work getting the team up to speed at recent alignment camps.
Even though the Boks lost to both Ireland and France at the end of a long season - one that had run literally for two years for their national players - they won’t be perturbed by the fire and fortune of the two sides at the top of the rankings.
The focus will be more to get their own game right, and the realisation that come the World Cup, all teams will be on an even footing.
It is tough to gauge where teams are as both hemispheres are normally at different stages of preparation, but France will be a leveller, and it will easily become clear which sides have made the right choices in their preparation for the tournament.
The Boks’ narrow loss to France with 14 men last year will mean they take more out of that than most sides would, plus while they did lose to Farrell’s side, they weren’t blown away like the All Blacks were in their past few tests against the Irish.
That will make the difference. And it will give the Boks a quiet confidence going into the tournament.
FORGETTING THE MEN IN BLACK
Of course, the one side nobody is mentioning at the moment is the All Blacks, who are having the same myriad of self-doubt issues about their coach Ian Foster as any teenage girl in a relationship.
The New Zealand Rugby Union has tied itself in knots trying to find a way of announcing the next All Black coach without hurting Foster’s run at the World Cup and it hasn’t gone very well, at least not in their local press.
But while they may not be the same factor that they were at previous World Cups, mainly because of the rise of the Irish and French, the All Blacks will always be a factor - and disregard them at your peril.
All this is shaping up for possibly the worst drawn, but most anticipated World Cup in a very long time.
And there won’t be any complaints from the defending champions when the limelight and pressure stays on other teams.
SIX NATIONS RESULTS
Scotland 26 Italy 14
France 41 Wales 28
Ireland 29 England 16