Ireland coach has his say on collusion idea to knock Boks out
SPOTLIGHT: Ireland assistant coach Mike Catt has rubbished suggestions that his team could collude with Scotland to send South Africa home early from the World Cup.
The Irish and the Scots will meet in their final pool B clash on Saturday in what will be a shoot-out for the quarterfinals.
A bonus-point victory for the Scots by a margin of 21 points or more combined with Ireland collecting a losing bonus point for scoring at least four tries would put both nations in the quarterfinals while eliminating the reigning champions.
After the Springboks’ 49-18 win over Tonga on Sunday, head coach Jacques Nienaber said he does not believe the two Six Nations teams would ‘conspire’ to fabricate a result and he called it “match-fixing” if it were to happen.
On all that conspiracy talk, Catt responded: “That stuff is just white noise in the background.
“No, we are not going to go in cahoots with Scotland.”
He added: “Would we want Scotland to beat us by 21 points? Would you want Scotland to beat you by 21 points?”
Catt said his squad is only focussing on one thing ahead of Saturday’s showdown and that is to get a victory.
“I am just focusing on the performance and the preparations of the players but Andy [Farrell] is fully aware of what is going and what needs to happen,” said Catt.
“Ultimately both sides need to win the game.
“If you do that then you put yourself in a good position, that is what we will try to do.”
Additional source: PA
