South Africa and Ireland meet in the 2nd and final test match in Durban on Saturday with South Africa leading the series 1-0 after an exhilarating match at Loftus Versfeld where the hosts won 27-20.
Click here for our previews of the New Zealand, Australian and Argentina tests
1st test
South Africa came out of the blocks playing an expansive style of rugby not often seen by them and managed to put the pressure on from the opening whistle, scoring an early try. Ireland struck back with a 1st half try but ended up having to chase the game.
South Africa brought the majority of the bench on after 50 minutes and although some rhythm was lost initially they got on top of Ireland with a penalty scrum from a try putting the icing on the cake of a solid performance.
Ireland usually fast starters themselves will be looking to come out of the gates hotter on Saturday to silence what will be a passionate home crowd.
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South Africa starting lineup
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; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Kwagga Smith.
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.
South Africa have named their match day 23 that sees no changes from last week and will hope that their strong bench can come on and close out the match like how they did on Saturday.
Ireland starting lineup
15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13. Gary Ringrose,12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. James Lowe, 10. Jack Crowley, 9. Connor Murray; 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Ronan Kelleher,3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Joe McCarthy, 5. James Ryan, 6. Tadgh Beirne, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Caelan Doris (c),
Replacements: 16. Rob Herring, 17. Cian Healy, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Ryan Baird, 20. Peter O’Mahony 21. Caolin Blade, 22. Ciaran Frawley, 23. Stuart McCloskey
Ireland have made four changes to their side with Casey, Aki and Sheehan all being ruled out by injury while O’Mahony moves to the bench. Andy Farrel will look for the replacements to bring an extra edge to the match and deliver the win.
Head-to-Head
Ireland travelled out to South Africa in 2016 for a three-match series which ended 2-1 in favour of South Africa. They won the opening match but went on to lose the next two.
Betting
South Africa are favourites to win the match and are trading at 1.30 while Ireland are trading at 4.30, the draw is quoted at 29.00.
The handicap at the time of writing is South Africa (-8.5) at 1.85.
Prediction
Ireland did not deliver the performance they were hoping to on Saturday, however, if we look back to 2022 when Ireland travelled to New Zealand for a three-match series, they lost their first match 42-19 but went on to win the next two matches. I can see a similar outcome this weekend if Ireland can get off to a strong start.
Suggested Bet: Ireland to win at 4.30
The total points in the last four matches between the two sides have been 47 or less on every occasion. Both sides will want to make a statement on defence this weekend and I see this being a very tight game.
Suggested Bet: Total points under 46.5 at 1.85.
Click here for all South Africa v Ireland betting
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
