The Ireland Men’s team line out for one final time this season, looking to right the wrongs of last week’s performance as they chase a series-levelling victory over South Africa in Durban.
SUMMER TOUR SECOND TEST:
Saturday, July 13 –
SOUTH AFRICA v IRELAND, Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban, 5pm local time/4pm Irish time (live Sky Sports Main Event & Action/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Leinster’s Caelan Doris will captain Ireland for the second time as the back-to-back Guinness Six Nations champions finish their summer tour at the home of the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
For his 50th Test match in charge, head coach Andy Farrell has made four changes to the team that lost the first Test (27-20). Conor Murray and Rónan Kelleher both start, following the tour-ending injuries for Craig Casey (concussion) and Dan Sheehan (knee).
With Bundee Aki nursing a shoulder injury from the Pretoria game, Garry Ringrose comes in for his first international start since last October’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand.
Naas man Jamie Osborne continues at full-back following an impressive try-scoring debut last week, and Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe, and Jack Crowley, who now has 87 Test points to his name, complete the starting back-line.
Peter O’Mahony is held in reserve this week, so Doris takes over the captaincy having done so against Italy earlier this year. James Ryan joins his provincial team-mate, Joe McCarthy, in the second row, with Tadhg Beirne switching to blindside flanker.
The remainder of the pack – props Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong, and openside Josh van der Flier – provide 205 caps’ worth of experience in the green jersey.
Ulster’s Rob Herring, who missed the Six Nations through injury, is back as the replacement hooker, and should bring energy and impact off the bench, alongside fellow forwards O’Mahony, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, and Ryan Baird.
Connacht scrum half Caolin Blade is standing by to win his third Ireland cap, and his first away from home. Ciarán Frawley and Stuart McCloskey are the other back-line options, with the big Ulster centre playing five Tests in the last year.
Speaking ahead of the rematch with the Springboks, Farrell said: “I thought Caelan was excellent last weekend. I think first and foremost he leads from the front. He’s in outstanding form.
“His performance last week, never mind the leadership or captaincy bit, he was outstanding. Be the best version of yourself, that’s the best form of leadership.
“He’s a calming influence, he’s bright. The questions that he’s going to the referees with are the right ones. His manner is very good as well.
“I’m sure as Caelan goes through his leadership roles, hopefully there will be many more as far as captaincy is concerned, albeit he is still in that infancy as far as trying to get some more experience, hence why he’s got this opportunity.”
He added: “We’ve seen some real guts and fight and determination from James (Ryan) to get his starting place back, so I thought he had a great impact off the bench last week.
“How he’s trained throughout this tour so far shows that he’s hungry, so we’re hoping to get something from him, and also we know that Tadhg Beirne’s a world class player no matter what position he plays in.
“Bundee had a bang on his shoulder that he was brave enough to go through the last 20 minutes of the game. That’s what he does for his team.
“He’ll fight when he has to, but unfortunately it was really sore at the beginning of the week and he was a bit shut down, and it would have been a risk.
“Also, with the quality of back-up centres that we’ve got, we have to do the right thing by the team and Bundee understands that.”
Meanwhile, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has selected an unchanged team – the most experienced one in their history – with a total of 990 Test caps among the starting XV which won the opening Test last Saturday.
The selected side beats the previous record of 987 caps when the Springboks beat New Zealand in last year’s Rugby World Cup final, while Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende combine for the 30th time as South Africa’s most-capped centre pairing.
Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe, who both touched down in the first game, feature again on the wings, and experienced lock Eben Etzebeth wins his 122nd international cap at his home ground, alongside his Hollywoobets Sharks team-mate, Bongi Mbonambi.
With 20 players in the matchday squad having World Cup experience, and eight having made their seasonal debuts for the ‘Boks last week, including captain Siya Kolisi, out-half Handre Pollard, and try scorer Kolbe, Erasmus is hoping for a more clinical performance from his charges this afternoon.
SOUTH AFRICA: Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls); Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls); Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers), Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles); Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Franco Mostert (Honda Heat), Siya Kolisi (Racing 92) (capt), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs).
Replacements: Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers), RG Snyman (Leinster), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers).
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster); Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), James Lowe (Leinster); Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Rónan Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Joe McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt).
Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Caolin Blade (Galwegians/Connacht), Ciarán Frawley (UCD/Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster).
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
Television Match Official: Ian Tempest (England)
Foul Play Review Officer: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Pre-Match Quotes: Caelan Doris (Ireland) –
We had a good meeting on Wednesday in particular, where we saw some clips that we felt wasn’t us. It wasn’t what we’ve shown over the last number of years in terms of some of the smaller things.
“Our work-rate for each other, standing up for each other a little bit, our response to a couple of positives from them, and not responding how we would have in the past.
“It brought up a little bit of hurt and it was frustrating seeing those images back, and it makes you want to fly into the match as soon as possible.
“We had a good training session off the back of that and I feel lads have a bit of an edge off the back of that. We also spoke about our calm, doing things our way, which we can’t go away from either.
“It’s trying to strike that balance between being calm, doing things how we do them, but having a bit of aggression and an edge to us as well.”
Rassie Erasmus (South Africa) –
We’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreboard on a few occasions too and we remember how it felt to suffer a defeat against them in the World Cup pool stages, and we have no doubt they are feeling the same this week.
“Ireland are a proud team and nation and they’ll be disappointed that they were unable to capitalise on a few opportunities last week close to our try-line, so they will work hard this week to fix their mistakes and ensure that they convert their chances into points.
“This is going to be another physically gruelling match, and just like us, they will be determined to correct the wrongs of last week.
“There is also the other important matter of them of trying to draw the series, while we would be delighted to win both matches, which will fuel their motivation, so it is going to be another spectacle of top class rugby.”
Pre-Match Videos –
Recent Meetings –
2022: Bank of Ireland Nations Series: Ireland 19 South Africa 16, Aviva Stadium
2023: Rugby World Cup Pool B: South Africa 8 Ireland 13, Stade de France
2024: Summer Tour First Test: South Africa 27 Ireland 20, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Support Ireland on www.facebook.com/irishrugby or search #RSAvIRE, #TeamOfUs, and #ShouldertoShoulder on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.