Death, taxes and the Green Gauge dial swinging to and fro with the regularity of a recently serviced metronome. Those are the only three certainties in life.
When we last gave you an update on the relative form of Irish and South African sides when they clash in European competitions, it was the brandy and boerewors brigade that had the upper hand as we build up to the all-important Group clash between the two nations at the World Cup in France later this year.
But then the metronome went "tick."
Irish powerhouses Leinster and Munster flew all the way across the equator last week to come crack off two shots that echo deafeningly between the four walls of the Springbok War Room.
FIRST SHOT
Leinster is untouchable at the top of the United Rugby Championship standings and as such decided to rest their regular squad for the trip to Africa. Instead, they ran out in Johannesburg with a team littered with academy players - all of them of an age where Gillette advertisements are wasted on them.
The Lions, on the other hand, still had a lot to play for. Theoretically they could still qualify for their first-ever URC playoff, something that would have been a lifesaver for a team bedeviled by off-field cloak and daggers.
So we had a set of desperate old hands, a set of deer-eyed youngsters mixed into a world-famous cauldron and the result was a "bang!"
The Leinster Academy players celebrated their first experience of playing at altitude not by panting, but by pulling away as the air got thinner, overturning a 12-point halftime deficit to record a 39-36 win.
If winning is a culture then Leinster's win on Saturday is proof of that.
That was insane.
— Catherine Kavanagh (@KavanaghCk) April 15, 2023
Commiserations to a superb opposition team. Louw is a giant.
Gladiatorial Baby Leinster. The genetically freakoid demographically enhanced gazillionaire factory production line rolls on.#LIOvLEI
SECOND SHOT
In Cape Town the Stormers ran out on the back of a 19-game winning streak at home and had no reason to suspect that they wouldn't add another scalp on Saturday. They boasted the strongest frontrow in the competition and had a backline that could hold their own against all comers.
Munster was not fussed by any of this. They came to South Africa with the clear purpose of escaping that little threatened pod at the bottom of the log's top eight that may fall prey to a Welsh team guaranteed to qualify for the Champions Cup despite not making the URC quarterfinals.
With that in mind, they brought their full squad, including the likes of Ireland regulars Connor Murray, and Peter O'Mahony as well as the towering presence of Springbok folk hero RG Snyman.
So we had a team on a massive unbeaten run with the ability to outmuscle anyone who cared to visit against a team full of seasoned veterans with a clear mission to secure spots in both this season's URC playoffs and next season's Champions Cup. And "bang!"
Quite funny seeing grown men get triggered by an innocent kid having clean fun 😂#STOvMUN #URC pic.twitter.com/X2wx51ZiPK
— Sardieq (@SardieqWP) April 17, 2023
And while all this was happening, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber announced mid-matchday that he will leave the Springboks for Leinster. "BANG!"
BIG SHOT
The Green Gauge had no choice but to swing the dial from favouring South Africa to now favouring Ireland by quite a bit. And it could have been worse if Snyman wasn't a Springbok.
What the Irish teams did abroad last weekend was nothing short of remarkable, and they will take a lot of confidence from having come to Africa to face the beast straight-on and walking away with the wins. That confidence can easily be carried into the Ireland setup as the National side begins their World Cup preparations.
All eyes now shift to Loftus Versveld and Kings Park where the Bulls and Sharks will look to put the brakes on this trend.
Check back next week to see how those two results influenced the Green Gauge team's thinking.