“THIS IS YOUR f***ing Everest, boys. Very few ever get a chance in rugby terms to get to the top of Everest. You have the chance today.”
Those were the words of Jim Telfer which inspired the British and Irish Lions to a series victory on Springbok soil almost 20 years ago. Ian McGeechan’s class of 1997 were the last side to win a three-Test series in this part of the world. It shows the scale of Ireland’s task this Saturday.
Conor Murray has been ever-present during this campaign and was on the pitch to witness the Boks overturn a 16-p0int deficit, twice, to seal a stunning 32-26 victory and level the series.
Fatigue, inexperience, nerves and the oxygen deficit at high altitude have all been offered as explanations for that final-quarter collapse in Johannesburg.
“No, genuinely, being honest, I didn’t feel anything like that,” said the Munster scrum-half.
“I know if you look at our performance, we probably looked as if we faded but it wasn’t due to fatigue or fitness levels.
“Personally I didn’t feel any different. I felt really fit out there.
“People will probably raise that question: did we fade or did the altitude get to us? I don’t think we can use that as an excuse. We were at altitude but we weren’t that high up. I don’t think it made a massive impact on anyone really.”
When Jamie Heaslip rumbled over for Ireland’s second try in the 59th minute at Ellis Park, it looked like a third consecutive win against the Springboks and the series was within their grasp.
But then came the Bok surge as the Irish challenge wilted. Two days after that frantic encounter, Murray was still trying to get his head around it all.
“Yeah, we were 19-3 ahead at half-time and in a really good place and sometimes when that happens, do you stand off it or do you try to protect that lead?
“We said it at half time and the coaches said it — we wanted to go out and play and take the game to them.
“We just didn’t seem to have that many platforms to do that off. We’d a couple of scrums and a couple of lineouts that we didn’t execute properly and then we just struggled to get into the game.
“Did we get nervous? I’m not too sure. I don’t think so. I just think we didn’t have the platform and then they started to gain momentum and we started standing off them and soaking tackles and they got on to that front foot pretty easily. So we had our unit review there and we have our team review in a while.
“We’ve all been looking at the game. Parts of it aren’t that pretty but we all have to look at it and learn from it so having watched it myself, there are definitely things we can fix.
“We made certain areas pretty hard for ourselves, where they countered really well — as much down to our organisation and kick-chase.
“The reviews aren’t pretty but we’ve got to get through them and build a buzz for the game on Saturday.”