Cheslin Kolbe lays down gauntlet to Ireland ahead of summer tour

Ireland will visit South Africa in July for a two-test series against the world champions. The first test will take place in Pretoria on Saturday, July 6, with the second test following a week later in Durban.

Andy Farrell's side got the better of South Africa in the Rugby World Cup pool stages in a close encounter the last time they met. Since then, several remarks have been made by the current Boks squad regarding the Irish team by members of the South Africa squad.

For example, Damian de Allende, a former Munster player, questioned if Ireland required the "emotional drive" to succeed under an English native in Andy Farrell.

"I think we get the emotional drive," the 32-year-old told RugbyPass this month.

"It’s hard to say; I think Andy Farrell is English, so I don’t know if he knows much about Ireland, its history, what has happened in the past, and things like that.

"Because Rassie is South African and he loves South Africa so much—he’s played for the Springboks, and it means so much to him—he knows how to make us tick as South Africans, and he knows how to make South Africa tick."

Also last month, Boks lock Eben Etzebeth described the Irish team as "arrogant" when the sides met in the World Cup last October, a claim that has since been refuted by the Irish coaching staff.

Kolbe, speaking to a South African news channel, has become the latest player to challenge the narrative that Ireland is the best rugby team in the world.

“There’s been a lot of hype and a lot of talk about it,” Kolbe said in an interview with News24.

“Obviously, we badly wanted to beat them in the pool match at the World Cup, but they had the better of us on the day.

"So, there's a lot of excitement about Ireland in July, but we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves; we’ve got Wales at Twickenham, and then the focus will shift onto Ireland.

“There’s been a lot of talk about Ireland deserving to win the World Cup; we’ll see in July.”