The Irish team to face the Springboks on Saturday has been named with South African Richardt Strauss making his debut head to head with his cousin, South African vice-captain Adriaan Strauss.
Eighthman Jamie Heaslip gets the nod as captain and will lead a ‘black’ Ireland team onto the park on Saturday, playing in their new black alternate strip.
Richardt Strauss, who is only 26 years old now, can build a long career in the Irish colours, after representing South Africa at the Under 19 World Cup in 2005 but was never capped at senior level.
This side shows eight changes from the team that played in the third June International match against the All Blacks, where they were comprehensively outplayed and beaten 60 – 0.
Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy
Substitutes: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Donncha O’Callaghan, 20 Iain Henderson, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ronan O’Gara, 23 Fergus McFadden
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I am happy for Strauss making his debut. He must be stoked doing this against his cousin…
Strauss vs Strauss going to be war. Both had to wait for their time to come, both deserve it. Good luck.