THE SPRINGBOKS HAVE landed in Ireland without wing Sbu Nkosi and back row Marco van Staden after both picked up injuries playing for the Bulls in the URC yesterday.
With director of rugby Rassie Erasmus back after his World Rugby ban, the Springboks are targetting a big win against the world’s number one-ranked team, Andy Farrell’s Ireland, in Dublin on Saturday. These two sides will also meet in the pool stage of next year’s World Cup in France.
The Springboks haven’t played Ireland since 2017 when they were beaten 38-3 in Dublin.
Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber have a 33-man squad on Irish soil after the decision to leave Nkosi and van Staden in South Africa to recover from their rib injuries, which require scans and further assessment. They may join the Springboks later for games against France, Italy, and England but will both miss the Irish clash, although they may not have even been involved if they were fit.
The South Africans had to deal with a five-hour flight delay on their journey to Ireland but they landed late last night, joining an 11-strong group of their European-based players who had gathered earlier on Sunday under assistant coach Felix Jones. Toulon’s Cheslin Kolbe was the last of the squad to arrive today, having played in the Top 14 last night.
While yesterday’s flight delay has resulted in the Boks changing their schedule for today, including cancelling a media session, they have continued with their plans to train ahead of the Ireland clash.
The Boks will name their matchday 23 to face Ireland tomorrow, continuing their tradition of announcing their team early in the week.
“We were very fortunate that Felix joined the squad on Sunday as he had a golden opportunity to work with the DHL Stormers and overseas-based players on some detail while the rest of us were travelling,” said head coach Nienaber today.
“We allowed the players additional recovery time on Monday morning to ensure that they are fresh when we take the field in our afternoon training session so we can leap straight into the thick of things.
“This is a massive Test for us as Ireland are the number one team in the world and we are also facing them in the pool stages of next year’s Rugby World Cup, so every minute of preparation time on and off the field counts.”
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Don’t know what he can be aggrieved about he elbowed toner straight in the face red card all day long fair play to the linesman cause the ref was initially going for the yellow card
@Ed Walsh: Will ya stop …barely deserved a yellow never mind a red .Embarrassing play acting from Toner .Ref initially was going for his shirt pocket for a yellow and it was the Pats fans screaming on the grass hill that made him witch to the back pocket.
There was only one really bad tackle all night ,on McCormack ,and the ref shit himself and barely produced a yellow .The diving was disgraceful too and the ref ,who’d lost the plot and control ,ignored it until the 93rd minute
@gavexile: OK
@gavexile: 100 per cent
@gavexile: Are you nuts, elbow to the face, deserved red.
He deserved to get the red card and should be banned for more than 1 game, it was an elbow to the face, really bad challenge.
Graham Cummins should be banned for a lot longer. There was no need for what he done.
What a great start for cork , st pats won’t be the push aside team they were last year !
@Tricksy: pat’s are a gutsy side, worried us ,very strong in corners/attack,or else our defence were well below par