What was in Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber’s heads when they selected Deon Fourie as their replacement hooker for a game of this magnitude? Fourie last played there for Lyon back in 2017/18 when Jacob Zuma was South African president and Allister Coetzee the Springbok coach. For them, those Zombie lyrics might as well have been aimed at their coaching team.
And they knew it.īoks fans took to social media in their droves after the game to demand answers. Were it not for four missed shots at goal in the second half, or one badly-skewed lineout or two late scrum penalties, it might have been a very different story. While Ireland fans were understandably ecstatic, heading off into the Parisian night to paint the town green, South Africans were full of regret. A 16th win in a row, this time against the world champions, which should ensure the world’s No1 ranked team finish top of Pool B and thus avoid hosts France in the quarter-finals.Īnd yet. What a performance, what a statement from Andy Farrell’s men. By the time the final whistle blew and the PA announcer at the Stade de France put on The Cranberries’ Zombie (turning the volume down during the chorus to allow the estimated 30,000 Irish fans packed into the stadium to belt out ‘What’s in your head, in your head? Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie…’) it was difficult to imagine a more enjoyable evening from an Irish perspective.
