RUGBY:ISAAC BOSS has been preferred to Eoin Reddan as back-up to Peter Stringer after the Ireland management yesterday finalised their replacements for tomorrow's game against Samoa at the Aviva Stadium.

Otherwise, the remainder of the bench featured against South Africa, with the quartet of forwards – Rory Best, Cian Healy, Donnacha Ryan and Stephen Ferris – all having started last Saturday, as did Jonathan Sexton, while as expected, Keith Earls again covers the outside backs.

John Muldoon will be disappointed not to have made the match-day cut after his match-winning appearance off the bench for Connacht against Samoa in Galway on Tuesday night.

Rob Kearney was effectively ruled out due to the bruising around the patella he suffered against the Springboks, while Geordan Murphy yesterday hooked up with the squad.

By the time these replacements come into play, the management will be hoping the starting XV will have atoned for much of the flaws in the performance against South Africa, most notably the set-pieces.

Ireland’s forwards coach Gert Smal attributed the relative lack of pressure on the South Africa throw compared to last year’s win at Croke Park to the tourists having had two weeks’ preparation with which to plan new line-outs and change their calls, whereas last year’s game was the last of their November tour, so this time Ireland had less to work off.

Maintaining Ireland would be stronger for the game, he accepted the Ireland lineouts were very disappointing. “Just in terms of selection of lineouts, it’s all technical stuff. I think speed, throw-in, everything – we can do better. Not just Victor (Matfield) but with Juan Smith at the back of the lineout, they have one of the best lineouts you can encounter, in terms of contesting against you as well. So the timing of your throw, the speed of your throw, the movement on the ground have to be spot on.”

Devin Toner was part of Ireland’s Churchill Cup squad and having lamented the injury which sidelined the 6ft 10ins lock from the summer tour, Smal admitted the 24-year-old would have a big responsibility on his debut.

“But he’s quite composed. He’s very calm, he’s not nervous at all. I think he also backs his ability. So I’ve got all the confidence that he can do the job.”

While the scrum at least didn’t go backwards as it had done a year ago against the Boks, Smal conceded: “It wasn’t the best performance but in terms of the whole process it was definitely an improvement, but I think it’s far away from where we want to be.

“Obviously, Greg Feek is with us and we’re going through a process. There are a lot of things we’re trying to fine tune and also change, and some of the players aren’t used to doing things for a long time so we’re hoping to reap the benefits of that in the future.”

Smal gave a thumbs up to Tom Court’s impact off the bench, and while back to his preferred position of loosehead tomorrow, the Ulster prop “is making good progress in what we want to see in a utility prop”.

Smal also gave a strong indication John Hayes, who needs games more than most to reach his best, remains ahead of Mike Ross not only in this week’s pecking order, but perhaps up until the World Cup. “Mike is one of the props we’re looking at, but I think John Hayes, where he comes from and with the amount of time we’ve invested in him over the past two years, I think we’ve just got too much,” said Smal.

“We’re very pleased with the way Mike Ross developed over the past year . . . but John needs that opportunity.”

Allowing for the disappointment of conceding two tries, Les Kiss was comparatively happier with the defence, and especially the manner they limited South Africa’s offloading and all-round attacking game.

He acknowledged there were times when Ireland could have quickened their defensive line speed, though Ferris, Jamie Heaslip and Healy all pushed off the line to put in good hits. “It wasn’t there all the time but nothing is ever perfect and we know we can improve that area.”

Samoa’s individual brilliance, Kiss acknowledged, will pose a different type of threat. “When they get an opportunity they just go for it and the other players intuitively follow that feel and they can off-load from all positions. They have this natural ability to sense opportunity and go for it so we have to make sure we are very clinical and build defensive certainty, and take away the number of opportunity they can feel.”

“If we can do that in the front line, they next thing they do is kick and look for these other options they are brilliant at so we just need to get good basics in place – do all the good things well in our structure and in our system, and hopefully take away their opportunities where they can sense (openings).”

IRELAND REPLACEMENTS: R Best (Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), I Boss (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), K Earls (Munster).