RWC 2023 Ireland v South Africa Buildup - Sat 23rd Sep 20:00 Paris

I'm not sure I've seen him do a stint that long in front of the media before but he's a natural and you see snippets of that in the Access Munster clips throughout the year.

That's exactly it. Doesn't matter how versatile the backup 10 is if, in all probability, he'll be replacing the 10.

We've beaten France soundly with a 5-3 bench, and they were comfortably a better team than this SA.

Has anyone even mentioned Duane Vermeulen not being in the 23 match day squad?

Far as I know he is fit to play. Suppose the 7-1 split didnt have space for him, if Kwagga is needed in the back line and the 8th man has to play a full 80 minutes then idk if Duane would be able at this stage.

Is there a chance Beirne starts at 6 with POM on the bench

We're gonna need something in reserve for the 2nd half

Having Beirne starting at 6 in a 3 lock pack gives us size without sacrificing much mobility and POM coming on at 50 mins adds leadership and improves our breakdown and lineout for the final third

Ireland don't have to change our game style, but we are vulnerable if the SA pack win the collisions and take away our ability to win quick ball at the ruck. Usually we can neutralise that over the 80 mins by being more mobile and fitter, but with the bomb squad, SA can finish even stronger than their starting 15 putting huge pressure on us to build a lead early or be forced to defend a lead against a fresher and bigger pack in the final 20 minutes

Games seem to take quite long these days, the water break adding to that. Could be an hour before first half ends, 2 hours for the full game.

Not a big difference from before, but noticeable.

when is the irish team announcement ?

There's no chance that POM isn't in the starting 15, he's too important to our lineout.

"Also, if we are to be accurate, a bomb squads actual job is to defuse a device, not add to it's explosive power, so it doesn't even make and fuckin sense in the first place."

😂 I never considered this before, very true!

There is a big difference between Smith being comfortable on the wing because he played 7s and having to play there for a significant portion of an international game against the world no.1. Having him on the wing will limit their kick case and he'd seriously struggle with positioning. There would be opportunities there to exploit, doubly so if Kolbe was also at FB.

I'd love to see Smith up against Hansen, his head would be wrecked as Hansen isn't on his wing half the time. It's one thing to defend on the wing when you just stand near the sideline and watch the opposite winger, completely different task if the wing keeps going infield and you don't know what to do.

Watching and reading all the previews of the game it seems it's all about South Africa. Maybe that's a good thing for Ireland. I get a patronising tone from pundits (especially from the southern hemisphere) regarding Ireland. They always refer to us as the worlds number 1 team but with an undertone of us just being custodians until the big boys restore the natural order.

Maybe the attitude is fair. We have never performed against a big team when under any expectations at a world cup. Apart from the heroics in 1991, we can point to the Australia win in 2011, but we were massive underdogs that day, so not under any real pressure. The only other win of note at a world cup was against a poor France team in 2015. Unfortunately this is our history at world cups. it is very grim reading.

Now is the time to step up and make a statement in my opinion. I believe we will win this game. I also think/hope that the 7/1 split will backfire on South Africa at some stage. I keep hearing about how great and versatile all the South African players are but there is no substitute for specialist positions. I see Kwagga being held up as a man that can play anywhere and the evidence for that is he played 7's. Now, come on. Playing 7's is like a totally different sport to potentially coming in on the wing or at centre in a World Cup against a good team.

Whilst sounding over simplified, all Ireland need to do is close to break even at the breakdown and set piece. Without that South Africa have shown nothing to make me believe they can win without sheer forward dominance (I know it has been enough thus far). I'm going over to the game and I am equally excited and unbelievably nervous. The one thing I want from Ireland though is to play to their potential. If they do that and lose to a better team then fair play. Too often in World Cups "good" Irish teams have completely capitulated and that would just be another disaster if that were to happen.

The Indo is reporting from Ireland pre-match press conference. Simon Easterby says Ireland most likely going with a 5/3 split for Saturday. It's the right call imo. We shouldn't change our plans just because South Africa are trying something different.

Jack Conan isn't available. Hopefully he's back for the Scotland game.

Exactly, there's no one on the bench who could break a game open if they're trailing.

Yeah I was thinking that, late on if I was chasing a score I’d want a fresh set of legs in the centre over in the second row