Ireland have a fully-fit squad to choose from for Boks clash

ANDY FARRELL HAS a fully-fit squad to choose from for his matchday 23 to face the Springboks on Saturday in Pretoria.

Assistant coach Paul O’Connell confirmed that all 35 members of the travelling squad trained today at St Peter’s College in Johannesburg.

As is custom, the Springboks announced their matchday 23 earlier today but Ireland will stick to their routine of naming the side on Thursday, two days before the Test.

With Jamison Gibson-Park missing the tour due to injury, Farrell has to confirm his selection at scrum-half, where Conor Murray and Craig Casey have been vying for the starting number nine shirt.

Jimmy O’Brien is the favourite to come in at fullback in Hugo Keenan’s absence due to the Olympics with the Ireland 7s. Farrell has strong options in midfield again, with Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, and Stuart McCloskey all fit.

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It will also be intriguing to see if Ireland go for a 6/2 or 5/3 bench split.

Either way, they’re excited about the challenge ahead against South Africa.

“They are world champions, they have good continuity in their playing group, they know what they stand for and I’d say there is a lot of confidence in their group at the moment,” said O’Connell today.

“It’s a massive challenge for us to be away from home and down here, but our boys are looking forward to it.”

Both teams are at the end of a long season that began with the 2023 World Cup but O’Connell doesn’t expect that to have any impact in the two-Test series.

Dan Sheehan and Andy Farrell.

Gone are the days where the South Africans had a big advantage on home soil due to the Southern Hemisphere season starting later than the Northern Hemisphere campaign. These days, the South Africans are part of the URC.

“We are lucky in terms of how we manage the players,” said O’Connell. “It’s probably been a long year but the players have gotten plenty of time off in the year, weeks where you are not training, you are not playing, you don’t have the mental pressure that comes with a game.

“Players tend to be on different journeys, some were out of things a little bit earlier, got a little bit of time, that mental and physical break, some guys pick up an injury during the year and they get their break there.

“Whenever we have come on tour in the last few years, or whenever we have come together after a particularly heavy period with the provinces we have always noticed our players… there is never a feeling that we have to manage them or manage their load. We haven’t feel that over here.

“We were a little bit careful with the travel, we arrived in two groups at different times and we were careful in that first session. We haven’t changed how we have trained a whole lot in terms of if this was a November Test or a Six Nations match.

“Andy and the staff would have a good feel for that but we haven’t felt the need to do so. Players feel, fresh, good and they feel ready. I know that South Africa have a few players away playing in France but a lot of them are home-based and they get that chance to manage them and manage their load as well.

“There won’t be an asterisk after the result, saying who was fresher.”