Intro:

South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer believes a larger 36-man squad for their tour of the Northern Hemisphere will help them prepare better for next years Rugby World Cup and said it was "a last chance to work with guys and see who are the guys that are going to the World Cup" and described their first Autumn International opponents Ireland as "an unbelievable team".

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Heyneke Meyer, South Africa head coach

"You can't start in the year before the World Cup and look at a guy like Nazeem Carr, this is the time because when they go away at least you've got six months to work with him, through videos and through email. This is the last chance we can have before the end of...before the World Cup, in the same conditions and the other thing is that there is four games and it's also a question that the last game, believe it or not, a lot of the overseas players are not going to be available. So we will probably have to fly in one or two more positions. And what's difficult, people don't understand it sometimes, is you can't fly a guy in on the Monday, you've never worked with him and then he must play in a Saturday Test match. So a lot of the positions we've covered, a lot of those guys will probably play and they need to work with us. They've never been with us, so they need to work with us for at least three weeks before they can play in that game. The main thing for me is there is not a big difference between most of the players and this is a last chance to work with guys and see who are the guys that are going to the World Cup. So I am very thankful for a squad of 36, most of the other countries go for a 32 or 34, so it's not a big difference, but it's what suits us and I'm thankful that it's going to help us to work with borderline players as well."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Heyneke Meyer, South Africa head coach (Q: You have an unbeaten record on Northern Hemisphere tours, is that a record that you take a particular pride in?)

"I don't like losing at all, if I say it's me not the team, we don't like losing, so every single game is important for us. But it is a proud record not having lost a game there, but this is probably the toughest one. I truly believe that Ireland is an unbelievable team, probably unlucky in a sense not to beat the All Blacks at the end."