Having earned a tantalising glimpse of an historic first series win only to be run over in a Springboks stampede in the last quarter, the odds on Ireland now achieving the feat have lengthened further.
The near certain loss of Robbie Henshaw with a knee injury was compounded by the squad’s flight to Port Elizabeth yesterday being changed to another flight three hours later. The Springboks happened to be on the same scheduled flight.
The extent of Ireland’s options in the absence of Henshaw would be limited, with Joe Schmidt likely to choose from within the existing squad.
“There are options with Luke Marshall still being in the squad. That was Luke’s first full Test for us last week for a long time and I thought he did a super job. He’s played a fair bit at 13 this year so he would be one option, as would Jared Payne.
“He could slip back up into the 13 spot and Tiernan O’Halloran could go into the number 15 spot.”
Playing Keith Earls at outside centre, as in the World Cup, is another option, but given Payne’s form at fullback, it’s likelier that Luke Marshall will be recalled alongside Stuart Olding in midfield.
Payne is also a concern, although his late withdrawal was due to cramp. The spine of the team will be retained again, with probable recalls for the likes of Mike Ross, Jordi Murphy and Earls on the wing, and Ultan Dillane to the bench.
In any event, the Irish squad know better than anyone that chances like last Saturday’s, when leading 26-10 inside the last quarter, don’t come by too often.
Momentum shift
In addition to the palpable momentum shift, historically Ireland don’t do last Tests of summer very well, and Schmidt admitted there fatigue could be a factor.
But noting that both teams’ winning margins before Saturday’s series decider were by seven points, he added: “It couldn’t be more all square. We’re going to take a little bit of confidence from that, particularly in the context of the enormous odds that were staked out against us even winning one Test.
“Whatever momentum was with us last week it doesn’t add value on the scoreboard necessarily, because it’s how you build yourself into the week. And we’ve just got to be a little bit careful about how we do that because I think over the next 48 hours the players are going to be really fatigued.”
Accordingly, today and Wednesday will be rest days.
While “incredibly proud of the players”, the defeat was “really tough to take because it’s so hard to get into that position. To be in that position [26-10] with a quarter of the game to go and you’re up by 16 points, it’s three scores, but I think there’s always a natural temptation to go into your shell a little bit and you just can’t afford to do that with the Springbok.”
“We did look like we were fatiguing,” acknowledged the coach, who must privately now wonder if Ireland could have made more use of a comparatively under-used bench.
“But at the same time with the guys who came on, it’s quite hard to get that second wind, so when you put someone on they’re going to take five, maybe 10 minutes to find their feet. It’s tight. These guys [starting players], they’re in the game, they’ve got the rhythm of the game and so you’re trying to balance that.”
In contrast, a relieved Allister Coetzee said: “Resilience is one of our core values and we spoke about being resilient. If you don’t out-resilience them, you’ll never beat the Irish.”
“The second thing was the impact that we had off the bench. Some guys might have an off-day, that’s why we’ve got 23 players and other guys step up and they get it right and turn it around for us. ”
