Stand-in skipper Caelan Doris feels a painful review of Ireland’s opening Test defeat to South Africa has given his side an extra edge going into the series finale.
Andy Farrell’s back-to-back Six Nations champions made a slow start in Pretoria last weekend and, despite an improved second-half showing, slipped to a 27-20 loss to the Springboks.
Back-rower Doris admits in-depth analysis of that encounter unearthed some home truths which have left the players ready to “fly into” Saturday’s rematch with the world champions.
“We had a good meeting on Wednesday in particular where we saw some clips that we felt wasn’t us,” he said.
“It wasn’t what we’ve shown over the last number of years in terms of some of the smaller things, our work rate for each other, standing up for each other a little bit, our response to a couple of positives from them and not responding how we would have in the past.
“It brought up a little bit of hurt and it was frustrating seeing those images back and it makes you want to fly into the match as soon as possible.
“We had a good training session off the back of that and I feel the lads have a bit of an edge off the back of that.”
Doris will lead his country at Kings Park Stadium after Peter O’Mahony was dropped to the bench as part of four personnel changes.
Ireland, who have won 33 of their last 38 matches, have instantly responded to recent defeats and not lost twice in succession since the 2021 Guinness Six Nations.
“We’ve touched on some of those, that New Zealand (first Test in 2022) one in particular where we feel we didn’t get things right, and bounced back and showed a bit of resilience in the second Test, so we have shown that this week,” said Doris
“There’s a load of belief in how we do things here, the quality of players and the quality of coaches.
“We’ll lean on that belief and we want to finish with a good performance and a good result at the end of a long season.”
Doris will captain Ireland for the second time, having previously done so for the 36-0 Six Nations success over Italy in February.
The 26-year-old’s preparation has been assisted “massively” by regular skipper O’Mahony.
“I’m delighted to be in the role,” said Doris. “The first time, the Italy week, there was more nerves and pressure and more self-doubt.
“This week, I’m feeling more of the privilege and the honour and it’s been helped massively by Pete.
“We’ve had good chats along the way, and the leadership group have stepped in massively and taken weight off me at times.
“Pete, it’s tough on him going from a starting position last week to a bench position this week but he’s led unbelievably through the week and has been a massive helping hand for me.
“When he comes on, I’m sure he’ll do the same.”