JWC 2011: Ireland team for South Africa.

Ireland have made six changes from the starting XV against England. In a bid to keep the team fresh, the bulk of the changes involve swapping around the repalcements with Ulster’s Henderson, Jackson, Gallagher and Marshall all taking a stint on the bench.

McMinney starts at out half in place of Jackson, Annett continues his captain’s role in the middle of the front row and Gilroy moves to the wing, replacing Andrew Boyle, with Tiernan O’Halloran filling in at fullback.

Aaron Coneely gets a start at wing forward with Shane Buckley dropping out due to a one match suspension.

The teams line up as follows:

Ireland		South Africa
James Tracy	1	Stephan Kotze
Niall Annett (C)	2	Michael Van Vuuren
Tadhg Furlong	3	John Roy Jenkinson
Michael Kearney	4	Ruan Venter
Daniel Qualter	5	Eben Etzebeth
Jordi Murphy	6	Nizaam Carr
Aaron Conneely	7	Cornell Du Preez
Eoin McKeon	8	Arno Botha (C)
Kieran Marmion	9	Lohan Jacobs
James McKinney	10	Johan Goosen
Craig Gilroy	11	Wandile Mjekevu
JJ Hanrahan	12	Francois Venter
Brendan Macken	13	Bradley Moolman
Andrew Conway	14	Courtnall Skosan
Tiernan O’Halloran	15	Ulrich Beyers
David Doyle	16	Mbongeni Mbonambi
Conor Carey	17	Nic Schonert
Iain Henderson	18	Jean Cook
Dominic Gallagher	19	Siya Kolisi
Peter Du Toit	20	Pieter Rademan
Paddy Jackson	21	Johnny Welthagen
Luke Marshall	22	Paul Jordaan

 

Following Friday’s defeat to England, Ireland need to win this game with a bonus point if they are to stand a chance of qualifying for the top four play offs,  and with this selection I think Ruddock has picked a team that may just surprise.

South Africa struggled in the second half of their game agaisnt Scotland and If Ireland can stay in the hunt, through the ineviatable first half blitz from the Baby Boks, they certainly have some exciting talent to bring off the bench and open things up in the second half.

Jackson and Marshall are just the players to exploit a tiring defence and I was somewhat surprised to see them taken off [comparatively] early against England, especially as it looked as though they were starting to find some space after a difficult first half. 

However I expect the substitutions to be reversed for this game and the Ulster pair will sparkle having got that nervy first match out of the way. With the pacy Henderson and Gallagher to come on up front Ireland should have the wherewithal to pull away in the closing minutes of the game and I’m plumping, fairly confidently, for an Ireland win.

I just can’t see them getting that much needed bonus point though!