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Johannesburg - The Springboks have had more than enough time to plan their strategy and will be ready for whatever Ireland throw at them this weekend, said coach Peter de Villiers.
GALLERY: Boks in training for Ireland
"We know them (Ireland) from a to z," he said.
"If they are going to change a few things, which we do expect, we will be ready for that too."
The Boks land in Dublin on Thursday and will have a day’s rest before bracing themselves for a physical showdown against a fired up Irish squad.
De Villiers believed set-phase dominance would be crucial in starting the tour with a victory.
"Their first phase and lineouts are very good and they won’t allow us any space at the back with Brian O’Driscoll there and the guys who cut down your space with their rush defence," he said.
Added Bok captain Victor Matfield: "They (Ireland) are very good at set-phases, like all the northern hemisphere teams are, and it is not like in the southern hemisphere where we use set phases as a launching pad, so they really focus on that."
If there is not a vast improvement in the team’s defence, which was atrocious during this year’s Tri-Nations when they won only one of six games, the Boks could be in for a fruitless five weeks on the road.
De Villiers identified tackling as another area needing improvement.
"I think we fell short on a few occasions when we caused ourselves problems by not executing well, which led to our defence being a bit of a shambles," he said.
Ireland have World Cup winning forwards coach Gert Smal on their side, which means the Boks will have to come up with moves which the former Springbok assistant will not anticipate.
"Having a guy like Gert Smal there, who has been at this level for a long time and knows what he is doing, will pose a tough challenge for us," said Matfield.
"Especially at lineout times, he knows me very well, so hopefully we can come up with one or two new ideas."
The South Africans were outclassed in the lineouts in last year’s 15-10 loss to Ireland and if Matfield -- who is considered a world specialist in that area -- has his way, a repeat of last year’s blunders will not be tolerated.
"I had a lot of time these last two weeks, so I went through all those things and had a closer look, so hopefully we won’t get caught again," he said.
“We have had our challenges with the number of injuries – particularly among the centres – but that’s not unusual in international rugby,” said de Villiers.
“The players have worked really hard and shown a great attitude in training and we now have to take that onto the field at the Aviva Stadium. But I’m satisfied with what we have achieved.
The Springboks play Ireland at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 19h30 SA time) in a match to inaugurate the stadium’s opening, following its construction on the site of Lansdowne Road at a cost of R4bn.
It is the first of four Tests against the Home Unions with the Springboks taking on Wales (November 13), Scotland (November 20) and England (November 27) before concluding against the Barbarians at Twickenham on December 4.
Centre Jean de Villiers (groin) and looseforward Willem Alberts (calf) took no part in training on Wednesday but have not been ruled out of contention for selection on Saturday. Chiliboy Ralepelle has recovered from a bout of flu and took a full part in training for a second day.
Frans Steyn is on club duty in France with Racing Metro and will join the squad following the latest round of Top 14 matches.
