Ireland in unfamiliar territory as they start preparing for Boks

As the Springboks complete their preparations for their first game since retaining the Rugby World Cup last October, a 35-man Ireland squad will gather in Dublin on Thursday to start the buildup to the forthcoming two match series in South Africa between the No 1 and No 2 nations.

Our Summer Tour squad for South Africa! 🇿🇦#TeamOfUs

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 18, 2024

It is not stretching it to suggest the Irish players and coaching staff may feel like they are in what has become unfamiliar territory for them. Another Leinster failure to round off their strong challenges in both the Investec Challenge Cup and the Vodacom United Rugby Championship with a trophy has been coupled with defeat for Munster in their semifinal and a shut out for Irish teams in the URC decider.

Ireland coach Andy Farrell was at the Munster game and his concern at seeing the Irish team fronted by Glasgow Warriors on their home patch will have been followed by what should have been quite a traumatic viewing of the video of the Leinster pack’s rather tame capitulation to the Vodacom Bulls earlier the same day in Pretoria.

GIBSON-PARK A BIG LOSS

To top that, Farrell learned after the Loftus game that in the series that starts in Pretoria on 6 July and will be concluded in Durban seven days later he will have to go with probably his most influential player post the retirement of Johnny Sexton. Scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park has been ruled out through an injury sustained in Leinster’s defeat and he will not be part of the touring squad.

In addition, Leinster No 8 Jack Conan, who boasts 46 Ireland caps, is missing the tour due to personal reasons, while Connacht winger Mack Hansen remains sidelined due to a shoulder injury. Another experienced international player and important member of the Ireland team, fullback Hugo Keenan, is missing due to being involved in the Irish Sevens challenge at the Paris Olympics.

Farrell has called up three uncapped players, with Leinster backs Jamie Osborne and Sam Prendergast being joined by Ulster loose-forward Cormac Izuchukwu among the potential debutants. Prendergast’s potential has been preferred to the experience of two Leinster teammates, Ross Byrne and his younger brother Harry.

👋 Welcome lads! #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/9eTy1yo3Lc

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 19, 2024

Yet it is the absence of Gibson-Park that will most hurt the Irish chances and most contribute to the feeling in the Irish squad that for the first time in a long time they are facing up a mission with the feeling that they are starting on the back foot.

The Leinster scrumhalf has been described as “the high-tempo heartbeat of an ambitious Ireland attack” by one Irish rugby writer, and it is an apt description. When things did look like they might happen for Leinster in the time before Gibson-Park went off, the scrumhalf was very much at the heart of it.

IRISH IN A MORE SOBER MOOD

As Bok coach Rassie Erasmus put it at a press conference this week, while the Bulls’ win was good for them and for the South African confidence, it may not have a material impact on the series. The often perennial failure of South African teams in Super Rugby did not always translate into failure when the Boks played against New Zealand and Australia, and the all conquering 1998 team under Nick Mallett won the Tri-Nations after a particularly abysmal Super 12 challenge.

It might even help Farrell that Leinster lost in Pretoria as it could serve as a reality check for his players. Not that anyone should need a reality check when it comes to the challenge of facing the Bulls at Loftus - everyone knows they are formidable and the fact they earned the right to host the game always gave the Bulls a chance against a team that had thumped them in the league game in Dublin.

But it is a different scenario that Farrell faces in comparison to the confidence that has enveloped Irish rugby over the past few years.

Times have changed since Ireland toured here under Joe Schmidt back in 2016 as rank underdogs and were expected to lose the three test series 3-0. Ireland had yet to win a test match in South Africa to that point, but they made history in the first game in Cape Town, Allister Coetzee’s first as Bok coach, by winning with 14 men after the sending off of CJ Stander for a dangerous tackle on Patrick Lambie.

Although that win was followed by two defeats and a series loss, it was seen as a breakthrough, and Ireland followed up two years ago by going one better in New Zealand by winning their series against the All Blacks. It was off the back of the confidence gained from that result that Ireland swept to a Grand Slam in the following season’s Six Nations and ascended to No 1 in the world rankings.

Having beaten all the other main challengers, including South Africa and France, in the two years building up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, Ireland and their supporters had a right to go into the global event with an air of confidence bordering on arrogance. That confidence was burst though by their quarterfinal defeat to the All Blacks, and although they went on to win the Six Nations that followed, their grand mission was to break a record by becoming the first nation in the Six Nations era to complete two successive Grand Slams. England put paid to that.

It’s a pity that the series will only be decided over two games. The standing of the two sides, and the rareness of a series between them, really demanded a three test rubber. A drawn series at 1-all won’t satisfy anyone, least of all Ireland, who have the new frontier of actually winning a series in South Africa that needs crossing.

RELISHING THE CHALLENGE

It is a challenge Farrell makes no secret of relishing as he looks to test his players and push them up another level.

“Travelling to South Africa to play a test series against the defending world champions provides no greater test for us, and it is another valuable opportunity for us to further grow and develop from the Guinness Six Nations,” he said in the squad announcement press release.

“The squad will come together in Dublin this week in preparation for the tour and the group understands the need to hit the ground running, ensuring we are the best version of ourselves for the challenge ahead.”

TAKING A LEAD FROM MUNSTER

Ireland will be captained by veteran flanker and talisman Peter O’Mahony, who has been backed to lead again after leading Ireland to the Six Nations title. That despite the fact that apparently O’Mahony doesn’t appear too sure about how much longer he is going to carry on playing. He turns 35 in September and assuming he won’t be around for the next World Cup, when he will be 38, he doesn’t have too many frontiers left to cross as a player. In addition to what he’s achieved with Ireland in winning Grand Slams, the Six Nations and a series win in New Zealand, he also led Munster to the win in the URC final in Cape Town last year that broke a long trophy drought for the Irish province.

There is some controversy around O’Mahony in Munster as there is understood to have been a rift between him and coach Graham Rowntree, with O’Mahony electing not to carry on as the team’s captain in the season that was just completed. However, what O’Mahony does have is experience of both leading teams to victory in South Africa (two wins against the Stormers at the DHL Stadium and a draw with the Sharks in Durban in 2022/23) and being part of important wins (over the Bulls and Lions at altitude in 2023/24).

Farrell may lean on that experience and for once it might not be Leinster players, although there are 18 of them in the Ireland tour group, that will be the heartbeat of the Irish challenge. But whatever the case, the Irish are not heading out from the Emerald Isle at the start of their trip on Tuesday with the same confidence as they headed to France for the World Cup, and the arrogance of the Ireland rugby media and supporters appears to have been ratcheted down a level or two.

The trip to South Africa is now being couched as a major challenge, a mountain for the team to climb, and a sense of foreboding has replaced the confidence even though the Boks haven’t beaten Ireland since the deciding game of the 2016 series in Port Elizabeth. Time will tell whether that change in aspect is a good thing for Ireland and a bad thing for the Springboks, or the other way around. It’s what makes the forthcoming clash of giants so fascinating.

Ireland Squad – Summer Tour 2024

Forwards: Ryan Baird (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Caelan Doris (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Rob Herring (Ulster), Cormac Izuchukwu (Ulster)*, Oli Jager (Munster), Ronan Kelleher (Leinster), Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster - captain), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Andrew Porter (Leinster), Cian Prendergast (Connacht), James Ryan (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Nick Timoney (Ulster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster).

Backs: Bundee Aki (Connacht), Caolin Blade (Connacht), Craig Casey (Munster), Jack Crowley (Munster), Ciaran Frawley (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Jordan Larmour (Leinster), James Lowe (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Conor Murray (Munster), Calvin Nash (Munster), Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster), Jamie Osborne (Leinster)*, Sam Prendergast (Leinster)*, Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Jacob Stockdale (Ulster).

* denotes uncapped player.

Fixtures

First test: Pretoria 6 July, Kick-off 17.00

Second test: Durban 13 July, Kick-off 17.00