The Springboks will be out to snap an eight-year wen droogte against Ireland when they clash at Loftus Versfeld in the first Test in South Africa in 2024 at 5pm tomorrow.
South Africa’s last victory over the Irish was back in 2016 when they beat the visitors 19-13 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha.
Since then, they have played three Tests, with the Irish team winning all of them – 38-3 in Dublin in 2017, 19-16 at the same venue in 2022 and 13-8 at the World Cup in France last year.
South Africa, though, will draw some inspiration from the fact that they have not lost at Loftus since 2018, with New Zealand the only visiting team to have bested them in Pretoria since 1995.
Ireland’s last visit to Loftus saw them get klapped 33-0, with a fresh-faced flank Rassie Erasmus even scoring off a Joost van der Westhuizen one-handed pass.
But history counts for nothing when the two top teams in the world collide tomorrow.
Top-ranked South Africa will be up for the challenge, and coach Erasmus says: “Ireland have had the upper hand over us in the last few years and will want to build on that on Saturday. That said, we also have a good idea of what to expect...”
SPRINGBOKS: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter- Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 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: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 James Ryan, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Garry Ringrose.