Who, what, where and when?
Ireland’s summer tour is to South Africa, home of the World Cup champions. The first Test is on Saturday, July 6th with a 4pm kick-off (Irish time).
The game is at altitude at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria.
Can I watch?
You can, but not as easily as the Six Nations or November internationals. The summer games are not on free-to-air TV, meaning RTÉ and Virgin are out of action.
Sky Sports are doing the honours this weekend, with their coverage starting at 3.30pm. If you don’t have a Sky subscription, a NowTV pass could sort you out.
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The availability of the television coverage aside, The Irish Times will have a live blog which gets under way two hours before kick-off.
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What to watch for?
For some bizarre reason, this series has had the sort of trash talk-laden build-up not normally seen in rugby. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing.
There have been jabs from both sides, from both inside and outside camp. Eben Etzebeth, the Springbok lock, accused Ireland of being disrespectful after they beat South Africa in the World Cup, saying “see you in the final” during the full-time handshakes. Etzebeth accused Ireland of being arrogant, ignoring the fact they still had New Zealand to play.
[ View from South Africa: Boks eye bragging rights in opening Test against IrelandOpens in new window ]
Simon Zebo of all people has waded in, saying that South Africa’s coach Rassie Erasmus “hates” Ireland. “Let’s spice it up” was Erasmus’ response when Zebo contacted him to apologise.
Those who watched Chasing the Sun, the documentary which followed South Africa’s most recent World Cup bid, will know that they love going after the old fashioned tactic of pinning up negative media commentary on the dressingroom wall. In the Irish media, they clearly find a lot of material. Which is our fault, I suppose?
Team news
Andy Farrell has handed Jamie Osborne his Test match debut for Saturday’s clash with South Africa at Loftus Versfeld (4pm Irish time). The 22-year-old Leinster utility back is entrusted with the number 15 jersey in the absence of Hugo Keenan, who is preparing with the Ireland Sevens team for the Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old Craig Casey has won the starting position at scrumhalf, making just his fifth start in winning his 15th cap. Conor Murray, who was on the bench for four of the five Six Nations games is included among the replacements. Casey started the Italy match and is closer in style terms to the injured Jamison Gibson-Park with that high-energy exuberance.
Robbie Henshaw is preferred to Garry Ringrose as a partner to Bundee Aki in midfield with the latter included on the bench.
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus named his side on Tuesday morning with 12 starters from the 2023 Rugby World Cup final in his team. Only fullback Willie le Roux, number eight Kwagga Smith and prop Ox Nche did not start the 12-11 victory over New Zealand in the decider in October last year, though they all did come on as replacements.
“This is the team we believe will give us the impetus we need against Ireland, who are the second-highest ranked team in the world,” Erasmus said.
Erasmus has opted for a 6-2 split between forwards and backs on the bench, aided by the versatility of Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who can cover outhalf, centre and fullback, and Grant Williams, who is usually a scrumhalf but can also play on the wing.
South Africa: Willie le Roux; Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe; Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert; Siya Kolisi (captain), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kwagga Smith. Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Salmaan Moerat, RG Snyman, Marco van Staden, Grant Williams, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Ireland: J Osborne (Leinster); C Nash (Munster), R Henshaw (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Lowe (Leinster); J Crowley (Munster), C Casey (Munster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster); T Beirne (Munster), J McCarthy (Leinster); P O’Mahony (Munster, capt), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster). Replacements: R Kelleher (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), R Baird (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), C Frawley (Leinster) G Ringrose (Leinster).
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