Before Erasmus and Nienaber returned to South Africa to lead the Springboks and later brought in Irishman Jones to join their coaching staff, the three coaches collaborated at Munster.
Nienaber returned to Ireland to work under Leo Cullen at Leinster after leading the Springboks to consecutive Rugby World Cup victories, while England signed Jones.
Are the All Blacks more skilled?
The three discussed what they thought made Ireland such a force in world rugby, with Andy Farrell’s team winning a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2023 and qualifying as the top-ranked team for the World Cup, in another excerpt from the interviews that were not included in the documentary series Chasing the Sun 2.
In the second episode of Chasing the Sun 2, which focused on the match between South Africa and Ireland during the World Cup in France last year, Jones gave a positive assessment of his fellow citizens.
“The Irish players are incredibly skilful, probably up there with New Zealand, if not surpassing New Zealand now with their skill,” Jones says in the Betway exclusive clip.
“And I think they’ve developed so much depth and so many world-class players in a number of positions, and are not just reliant on one or two guys.”
The luxury the Springboks have that Ireland don’t
Erasmus and Nienaber then explain the dynamics of the Irish Rugby set-up and how it differs from South Africa.
“Ireland’s biggest thing is they’ve got four provinces and not a lot of rugby players,” Erasmus said.
