February 18, 2025

Ireland drops captain Peter O’Mahony and will be without Bundee Aki against Springboks in Durban

DURBAN – Usual Ireland skipper Peter O’Mahoney has been dropped from Ireland’s starting line-up  in the second test here at Kings Park on Saturday.

Number eight Caelan Doris will lead the side in place of O’Mahony who will feature among the replacements.

Powerhouse midfielder Bundee Aki who was expected to once again front-up to his South African counterpart, Damian de Allende, in the number 12 jersey, will miss the test because of a niggle he picked up in last week’s 27-20 loss at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Robbie Henshaw switches from outside to inside centre with his Leinster colleague Garry Ringrose to wear the 13 jersey.

Head coach Andy Farrell made four changes to the side after their first loss to the Springboks since 2016.

He decided to move Tadhg Beirne to O’Mahony’s usual blindside flanker role and brought James Ryan into the second row.

While Ryan’s promotion to the starting side over O’Mahony appears to be a selection decision, Farrell was always going to have to alter his team for what is the last game of a long season.

Scrum-half Craig Casey and hooker Dan Sheehan were both ruled out earlier this week with injuries sustained in the first Test.

The vastly experienced Conor Murray will start at nine with Connacht’s Caolin Blade among the replacements.

Ronan Kelleher comes into the side in place of Sheehan with Ulster’s South African-born hooker Rob Herring, coming onto the bench.

Farrell said at a press conference at the team hotel in Umhlanga Ryan’s “impact off the bench” in last week’s defeat had convinced him to start the Leinster lock.

“You could talk about Tadhg or Pete going to the bench but what people are failing to talk about is that James Ryan has been a starter for us for years and years and been a real leader in our side,” said the Ireland coach.

“He’s not happy sitting on the bench neither and we’ve seen some real guts and fight and determination to want to get his starting place back.”

Farrell added that O’Mahony was “not happy obviously” about his demotion to the bench but said that the Munster veteran “does the right thing by the team and that’s at the forefront of his mind constantly”.

“That’s proper leadership. He understands that we want to have a look in this direction to see how it goes.

“He’s the captain of this tour and I suppose it shows the mark of the man, how you lead after a little bit of disappointment.”

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus named an unchanged squad for this weekend’s game in Durban.

Springboks: 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, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Substitutes:
 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

Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne; 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray; 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne; 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy; 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.

Substitutes: 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

SOURCE: BBC.COM

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