Ireland Team To Play South Africa

Ireland have made one change in personnel and three positional switches for their second and final Summer tour Test against South Africa at Newlands Park, Cape Town on Saturday next, June 19th at 3pm.

Ireland have made one change in personnel and three positional switches for their second and final Summer tour Test against South Africa at Newlands Park, Cape Town on Saturday next (June 19th, k.o. 3pm local time / 2 pm Irish), compared to that which lost by 17-31 to the Springboks at Bloemfontein on Saturday last.

In the absence of the injured Gordon D’Arcy, team captain Brian O’Driscoll moves from inside to outside centre, with right winger Shane Horgan switching to inside centre. Geordan Murphy moves from left to right wing and his place is taken by Tyrone Howe, who will make his 14th Test (five tries) appearance.

Full back Girvan Dempsey, first capped as a replacement against Georgia in 1998, will win his 50th cap, bringing him to within four of the all time Irish record for a full back, held by Tom Kiernan, who made his 54 appearances between 1960 and 1973.

Another notable milestone will be the 45th Test appearance at out half by Ronan O’Gara. First capped against Scotland in 2000, O’Gara has scored 422 points for Ireland, (six tries, 75 penalty goals, 79 conversions, 3 drop goals). This makes him the second highest points scorer in Irish rugby history, behind replacement David Humphreys, with 486 points.

The Ireland team will again be captained, for the 15th time, (13 victories) by Brian O’Driscoll, winning his 52nd cap (24 tries).

* The Ireland team to play South Africa at Newlands Park, Cape Town on Saturday next, June 19th, is:-

15 – Girvan Dempsey (Leinster – Terenure College) 14 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester) 13 – Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster – Blackrock College) Captain 12 – Shane Horgan (Leinster – Lansdowne) 11 – Tyrone Howe (Ulster – Dungannon) 10 – Ronan O’Gara (Munster – Cork Constitution) 9 – Peter Stringer (Munster – Shannon) 1 – Reggie Corrigan (Leinster – Greystones) 2 – Shane Byrne (Leinster – Blackrock College) 3 – John Hayes (Munster – Shannon) 4 – Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster – St. Mary’s College) 5 – Paul O’Connell (Munster – Young Munster) 6 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli) 7 – David Wallace (Munster – Garryowen) 8 – Anthony Foley (Munster – Shannon).

Replacements: 16 – Frankie Sheahan (Munster – Cork Constitution), 17 – Marcus Horan (Munster – Shannon), 18 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster – Cork Constitution), 19 – Alan Quinlan, 20 – Guy Easterby (Rotherham), 21 – David Humphreys (Ulster – Dungannon), 22 – Kevin Maggs (Bath).