Injury problems ease for Ireland ahead of second Test

Ireland’s injury worries appear to be easing ahead of Saturday’s second Test agaunst South Africa in Durban, with Andy Farrell set to have a full squad of players to choose from.

While Dan Sheehan and Craig Casey were ruled out earlier this week, and replaced in the group by Dave Heffernan and Nathan Doak, there had been several minor knocks in the group following a bruising defeat to the world champions in Pretoria at the weekend.

Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Jamie Osborne and Andrew Porter were all treated for injuries after the 27-20 defeat, but all members of the squad too part in this afternoon’s session at their Northwood High School base in North Durban.

“Everyone trained today, Heff [Dave Heffernan] and Doaky [Nathan Doak] came in and took part in the session,” defence coach Simoin Easterby said.

“Everyone apart from Dan [Sheehan] and Craig [Casey] were available and training.”

Farrell is due to name his team on Thursday afternoon for the second Test, with Ronan Kelleher and Conor Murray expected to come into the line-up to replace the injured Sheehan and Casey.

Garry Ringrose is also in the mix to start after impressing off the bench in Saturday’s game at Loftus Versfeld, and while Robbie Henshaw is on track to come through the return to play protocols before this week’s game at King’s Park, Ringrose’s impact in defence last week cannot be ignored.

Ireland’s early sluggishness in defence was one of the big frustrations for Farrell on Saturday night, as they struggled to get a grip on South Africa’s wide gameplan.

And Easterby says while they were prepared for what the Springboks would do in attack, their execution left a lot to be desired.

“They put the ball into space which we anticipated but we didn’t deal with that as well as we should have done,” he said.

“Sometimes a team will find a way to get into space, we didn’t shut that down in the way that we would normally do.

“There are plenty of fixes for that but essentially, we have to be better on both sides of the ball especially in the first half. As the game went on we grew massively into the game and we finished strongly. We will take a lot of confidence from that.

“You can’t give a side like South Africa the type of space that we allowed because they have too many quality players to put you under pressure and take advantage of that space,” Easterby (below) added.

There will be no excuse for making the same mistakes this weekend, with South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus naming an unchanged matchday 23, doubling down on last week’s winning team.

“That’s obviously a vote of confidence after their victory and it’s not unusual I guess. It gives those guys a chance to back up with another performance.

“We expected a similar type of team and they’ve gone with the same 23, which probably makes it a little easier previewing them because we know a lot of their individuals and we’re aware of a lot of strengths in their team,” he said.

While a first ever series win in South Africa is now off the board, Ireland still have a lot at stake in their final game of the season, as they look to avoid back-to-back-Test defeats, something that hasn’t happened since the opening rounds of the Six Nations in 2021.

And Easterby says he’s been impressed with the reaction he’s seen in the group this week.

“We didn’t expect anything different from the lads. When you put in a performance that doesn’t match the levels the lads have put in across the last couple of seasons, then there is clearly disappointment.

“There is no better group to take responsibility for that, to get a second opportunity this weekend,” the defence coach added.

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Listen to live commentary of South Africa v Ireland (4pm) on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1, and follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.