Key events
Settle in!
Teams and further updates to come.
Kick-off at 5.40pm GMT.
This is the one game that both coaches want. If it lives up to the billing, it could be the game of the year.
But Andy Farrell is a slick operator and would have circled this date in red on his calendar long before Erasmus and his gang touched down at Dublin Airport. He’ll no doubt have a few tricks up his sleeve.
Ireland, though, have not managed to kick on in quote the same fashion. The loss of Johnny Sexton is still keenly felt and there is an over reliance on some players who are in the autumn of their careers.
Ireland are not the team they were two years ago and the South Africans will start as favourites. They have retained a core group of gnarled veterans while blooding young talents. They can strike on the counter, break teams down through methodical phase play and crash over opponents with sheer, unrivalled heft. There’s a reason sober rugby minds have wondered if they are the equal to Richie McCaw’s All Blacks.
He has never won in Dublin. In fact, Ireland is the one team that has had his number wherever he’s played them. A 1-1 drawn series on his own patch came after a defeat in the World Cup. And though the Springboks lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for a second consecutive time, this one itch remains unscratched.
Here we go …
Daniel Gallan
Rassie Erasmus has ticked every box as South Africa’s all-conquering coach. Except one.
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