The Japan-based flyer, who is in a race to be fit for the games in Pretoria and Durban next month after hurting his knee, is determined to put to bed any talk that Andy Farrell’s team are the best in the game.
The Springboks appear to have a major chip on their shoulder about Ireland who have beaten them on their last three meetings in 2017, 2022 and at the 2023 World Cup.
Rassie Erasmus’s side recovered from that pool defeat to retain their trophy, while Ireland went home at the quarter-final stage yet again.
In recent weeks, Bok lock Eben Etzebeth claimed 12 Ireland players disrespected New Zealand by saying ‘we’ll see you in the final’ as they left the field after that epic battle in Paris, while centre Damian de Allende has promised Ireland they’re in for a ‘war’ and claimed the South Africans had been disrespected by the Irish media after their 2017 hammering.
“There’s been a lot of hype and a lot of talk about it,” Kolbe said of the series in an interview with News24 in South Africa.
“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, 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.”
Kolbe has left the Springboks training camp in Pretoria where, ironically, they’re rubbing shoulders with the majority of the Irish squad who are there with Leinster this week.
Erasmus has added former Munster and Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery to his coaching team, while highly-regarded New Zealander Tony Brown has also come on board with Felix Jones and Jacques Nienaber having left after the World Cup.
“It’s definitely going to be exciting working with two new coaches,” Kolbe said.
“I got to know a bit about Jerry (as a consultant) in the build-up to the World Cup in 2023, he’s a hard worker who’s very passionate about the game and the Springboks, he’ll definitely add value to the team.
“On coach Tony, speaking to the Japanese boys they’ve told me how much they love him and what a good person he is on and off the field.
“With his experience of playing in New Zealand and in South Africa, it’ll be exciting to see how the Springbok attack will grow – hopefully we’ll get a lot more opportunities to run with the ball.”
Andy Farrell names his squad to travel to South Africa next week.