SOUTH AFRICA v IRELAND – HOLLYWOODBETS KINGS PARK, DURBAN – KO 5pm
Referee
Karl Dickson (England)
Test debut: 17 November, 2018 – Georgia 27-19 Samoa
Tests as referee: 19
Karl Dickson will take charge of this fixture for the first time.
It will be the second Test he referees in South Africa, having been in the middle for the Springboks’ 29-10 victory over Argentina in Port Elizabeth in August 2021.
He was an assistant referee for the Rugby World Cup 2023 final when the Springboks beat New Zealand 12-11 at the Stade de France.
Ireland have a W3, L1 record with Dickson in the middle, the one defeat coming in New Zealand in July 2022.
Their most recent victory came in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations earlier this year, 38-17 over hosts France.
Dickson was an assistant referee for last weekend’s match in Pretoria.
Head-to-head
Played: 29 – South Africa leads 19-9 with one draw
Points for: South Africa 557 / Ireland 432 (Avg. score: 19-15)
Highest score: South Africa 38 (38-0 on 30 November, 1912)/Ireland 38 (38-3 on 11 November, 2017)
Biggest winning margin: South Africa 38 (38-0 on 30 November, 1912)/Ireland 35 (38-3 on 11 November, 2017)
First met: 24 November, 1906 – South Africa 15-12 Ireland – Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast
Last met: 6 July, 2024 – South Africa 27-20 Ireland – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Head-to-head notes
South Africa ended a three-game losing streak against Ireland when they won last week’s Test 27-20 in Pretoria.
It was the world champions’ first victory over Ireland in eight years.
Kurt-Lee Arendse opened the scoring with a try after just three minutes before Irish debutant Jamie Osborne responded with a score of his own before half-time, with the Springboks holding a 13-8 advantage.
The game finished with a flurry of four tries and two yellow cards in the final 15 minutes.
Cheslin Kolbe scored for South Africa, who were also awarded a penalty try, while Conor Murray and Ryan Baird dotted down for Ireland.
Arendse blotted his copybook with a yellow card and Ireland’s Ronan Kelleher joined him in the sin-bin.
South Africa made and missed an identical number of tackles as Ireland (137/21).
The Springboks played with width 16% of the time compared to Ireland’s 5%.
Only 10 line breaks were made in the match (6-4 to South Africa).
Nine of the last 11 meetings between the teams have had a winning margin of six points or fewer.
Matches between the teams are typically low-scoring, with only one fixture producing over 50 points (South Africa’s 32-26 win over Ireland in 2016).
Ireland’s only victory to date over the Springboks on South African soil was at Newlands in June 2016 when Paddy Jackson’s kicking and tries from Jared Payne and Murray helped them to a historic 26-20 win, despite CJ Stander’s red card.
Team notes
South Africa have won both of their opening Tests of the year having beaten Wales 41-13 at Twickenham before last week’s 27-20 win over Ireland.
South Africa have now won their last six games, three of them by a single point, including the RWC 2023 final win over New Zealand.
The Springboks’ last defeat was 13-8 to Ireland in the pool stage of RWC 2023.
South Africa’s last home defeat was 35-23 against New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg in August 2022.
South Africa have won their last three matches at Kings Park in Durban, dating back to a 57-15 defeat to New Zealand in October 2016.
South Africa have scored points early and late in their first two Tests of the year: 35% of their points have come in the first quarter and 46% in the final quarter. They have only scored 13 points between minutes 21-60.
South Africa have yet to lose any scrums on their own put-in (from 12 feeds) in 2024.
South have kicked all six of their conversion attempts this year but have been unsuccessful with all their four penalty shots at goal.
Ireland have now slipped to defeat in their last two away games, having lost to South Africa 27-20 last week and to England at Twickenham earlier in the year.
Ireland won all three of their own scrum put-ins against the Springboks but struggled at line-out time, winning just 10/14 throws (71%).
Ireland only kicked two of their five attempts at goal in the defeat to the Springboks.
Ireland’s average ruck speed was a razor-sharp 2.81 seconds – the only team at this stage of the July internationals to be sub-three seconds.
Caelan Doris made three breakdown steals against South Africa – more than any player in the June/July internationals.
Ireland were crowned Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2024 champions after a 17-13 win over Scotland in March.
It was their sixth Men’s Six Nations title in 15 years.
Ireland missed out on back-to-back Grand Slams, though, having been beaten 23-22 by England in the penultimate round.
Ireland began their campaign brilliantly with a 38-17 win over France in Marseille – their biggest win over Les Bleus on French soil – before seeing off Italy 36-0 and Wales 31-7 in their next two games at home.
It also ended Ireland’s 11-game winning run in the Men’s Six Nations, dating back to the 30-24 defeat to France in Paris in February 2022.
Ireland have won seven of their last 11 Tests as the away side, with the defeats coming against England, New Zealand, France and latterly South Africa.
Ireland have won their last 19 home matches, with only South Africa in November 2022 managing to finish within seven points of them during that spell.
It’s their longest winning run at home, eclipsing the 12-game winning streak between 2016-18, which ended when England beat them in round one of the 2019 Six Nations.
Team news
By retaining the same match-day 23 that defeated Ireland 27-20 in Pretoria, Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus has named the most experienced Springbok line-up in history.
The unchanged starting line-up boasts a combined 990 test caps, surpassing the 987 caps by the team that began the Rugby World Cup 2023 final against New Zealand in France.
Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel will become the most-capped centre pairing in Springbok history when they combine for the 30th time in Tests. They are currently level with Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie on 29 Tests.
Other landmarks include openside Pieter-Steph du Toit's 80th cap and a 95th Test for fullback Willie le Roux.
Frans Malherbe, meanwhile, will start at tight-head prop for the 59th time, which moves him one clear of Jannie du Plessis into third on the list for the most starts at prop – behind Tendai Mtawarira (102) and Os du Randt (75).
Malherbe once again joins Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi in the front row with Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert continuing in the second row.
Captain Siya Kolisi. Du Toit and Kwagga Smith go again as the back-row triumvirate.
Faf de Klerk and Handré Pollard will attempt to run the game from half-back with record-breakers De Allende and Kriel outside them.
Le Roux is joined in the back three by last week's try-scorers, Arendse and Kolbe.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell has made four personnel changes, two of which were enforced after hooker Dan Sheehan and scrumhalf Craig Casey were ruled out of the remainder of the tour with injury.
Kelleher steps up from the bench to replace Sheehan, joining Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong in the front row.
Joe McCarthy continues in the second row but will have James Ryan alongside him this weekend with Tadhg Beirne shifting to blindside flanker.
Josh van der Flier and Doris complete the back-row triumvirate with the latter assuming the captaincy with Peter O’Mahony dropping to the bench.
Veteran scrumhalf Murray earns a first Test start since the RWC 2023 warm-up victory over Samoa last August and will partner his Munster teammate Jack Crawley at half-back.
The final new face in the backline is Garry Ringrose, who comes in at outside centre with Robbie Henshaw shifting in one position.
The back three of James Lowe and Calvin Nash on the wings and Osborne at fullback remains unchanged.
Rob Herring, Caolin Blade and Stuart McCloskey earn call-ups to the bench with replacement scrumhalf Blade having last featured for Ireland in the RWC 2023 warm-up against Italy.
Coach notes
Erasmus – the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes of 2019 and 2023 – has returned to the role of head coach for the next four years following the departure of Jacques Nienaber to Leinster
Erasmus coached the team in 2019 and was Director of Rugby four years later.
Erasmus’ reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington DC in June 2018.
Former All Black flyhalf Tony Brown has been brought in as attack coach and the responsibility for the defence now falls to former Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery.
Erasmus has also added a performance analyst in Paddy Sullivan, who worked with the team as a consultant at RWC 2023. Sullivan has been a performance analyst for French Top 14 team, Montpelier, for the last three seasons.
Double RWC-winning Springbok No 8, Duane Vermeulen, has also been appointed to a roving coaching role with all SA Rugby’s national teams, while former referee Jaco Peyper has come on board as a laws advisor.
Erasmus won 36 caps for South Africa as a back-row forward.
Farrell has won 39 of his 49 matches in charge of Ireland, giving him a win percentage of 79.5%. That makes him the most successful permanent head coach of Ireland in the professional era.
Farrell’s record as head coach of Ireland in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations is 19 wins from 25 matches (76%).
Under Farrell, Ireland were ranked number one in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings between July 2022 and October 2023 – the longest ever reign at the top by a northern hemisphere team.
Farrell was part of Stuart Lancaster’s England coaching team at RWC 2015 and won eight caps as a player in 2007, including appearing at RWC 2007.
In January, Farrell was announced as the new head coach of the British & Irish Lions for the tour to Australia in 2025.
Springbok starting XV: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk; 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Ireland starting XV: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murry; 8 Caelan Doris (capt), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadgh Beirne; 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadgh Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter. Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O'Mahony, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.
Comments