South Africa’s Springboks will be smelling blood against a gekrokte Ireland ahead of their series-decider in Durban this Saturday.
After klapping the Iere 27-20 over the weekend in Pretoria, the Boks will take some heart out of the fact that they not only breek’d Ireland’s chances of bagging a historic first series win in SA, but their players as well.
Ireland’s first-choice hooker Dan Sheehan had to return home to see a specialist after injuring his knee, while scrumhalf Craig Casey suffered a concussion after a big tackle from Bok lock RG Snyman and will also not be able to play at Kings Park.
In the midfield, the Irish are apparently also sweating on the availability of centres Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw.
Aki is nursing a sore shoulder, while Henshaw was subbed off at Loftus Versfeld for Gary Ringrose at half-time after getting steamrolled in a massive ball-carry by Springbok captain and flanker Siya Kolisi.
Wing James Lowe (sore thigh) and prop Andrew Porter (hand) are also on the mend ahead of the second Test, meaning the Irish team could look totally different from the one in Pretoria.
And it’s here where the Springboks’ new attacking coach Tony Brown comes in with his plannetjies to unlock what could be a very disjointed Irish unit.
The former All Black warns the Irish of the Boks’ attacking game in the first Test: “There were some really good signs with the way we spread the ball wide early on, but we need to be more clinical in the next game.
“We had a few chances, but we didn’t execute as well as we would have liked to, so that is one of the things we need to improve on this week. That said, the more the guys play, the better they will be, so hopefully that will improve with time.”
50 000 fans at Loftus screaming '𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗘!" at full-time after the Springboks beat Ireland 🔊🗣️ pic.twitter.com/FVmjkvCctu
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 8, 2024