Tour match: Pumas v Emerging Ireland, Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, Wednesday, 3.0 Irish time – Live on IrishRugby+
Simon Easterby and the senior coaches drew up a list of ‘players of interest’, as they’d say in the best crime dramas, in the form of an Emerging Ireland squad, two years after a similar enterprise yielded six future Ireland Test players.
The age profile is younger this time, but the premise is the same. Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu toured with Andy Farrell’s Irish squad to South Africa in the summer without being capped but will have senior roles on this tour. All the players are well aware of the throughput numbers from the last Emerging Ireland venture.
Easterby spoke beforehand about the specifics of those responsibilities with Izuchukwu managing the lineout among other duties, although he will have considerable help in that respect from Connacht’s Darragh Murray.
Izuchukwu, who was on this tour two years ago, is named in an athletic backrow that contains tour captain and openside flanker Alex Kendellen – he would have travelled to South Africa too back then but for injury – and number eight James Culhane, the only other returning player from the class of 2022.
Kendellen captured the essence of what the tour means for the players. “It’s an opportunity for us lads to put our hands up with senior coaches here coaching us. We’re under no illusions, everyone is kind of in the shop window here, but it’s about bringing the team together here and trying to work as best you can for the guy next to you.
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“I think that leads to performance then so it’s important for us to come together as quickly as possible.”
Prendergast gets a chance to ’run the week in training’, an important aspect of being the first-choice outhalf. His aptitude to do so successfully could have a knock-on effect when it comes to a potential debut in the November Test series.
The Leinster outhalf appears to have the raw material required to be a Test player The key will be to provide substance to the notion. His placekicking stats could do with trending upwards. He’s brave, almost to a fault, has a good range of passing and kicking and can create space for team-mates. The best version of himself will suffice nicely.
Grand Slam winner Hugh Gavin is yet another in the line of promising Connacht centres that includes Cathal Forde, Shane Jennings and John Devine, younger brother of today’s scrumhalf, Matthew. Gavin, at six foot four inches and 16 stone, is a powerful physical presence but he also possesses an impressive array of skills.
His midfield partner Seán O’Brien (26) is an elder statesman but one whose versatility and quality earned him a place. Zac Ward enjoyed a brilliant season for the Ireland Sevens team, and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on as a wing, having played in the forwards in the abbreviated game.
Leinster’s Rob Russell (25) is a proven try scorer, quick and elusive with lovely balance, but he will be asked to demonstrate more robust defence if he’s to progress further. It’s nice to see Matthew Devine fit again, a scrumhalf with a knack of scoring tries, while Ben O’Connor’s footballing skills will hopefully come to the fore.
It should have been an opportunity for Tommy O’Brien and Shayne Bolton to push for selection consideration for a November Test place, against Fiji potentially, but injury denies them the opportunity. Charlie Tector and the promising Chay Mullins, straight from Sevens, aren’t in the matchday 23 but will get a run over the next two games.
Jack Boyle’s injury means that Mark Donnelly not only makes the squad but the starting team, while 19-year-old Clontarf and Irish 20s prop Alex Usanov received a late call-up. Old Wesley’s Stephen Smyth, another from last season’s Irish 20s, gets a first run at hooker, while Jack Aungier (25) has already amassed 68 matches for Connacht.
Lock Harry Sheridan, highly regarded at Trinity College during his time there, and now breaking through on a more regular basis at Ulster, is a properly tough, ball-carrying presence, who hits hard and is equally at home at blindside flanker.
Gus McCarthy showed flashes of his talent in Leinster’s two URC matches this season, one off the bench, one a start. Tullamore’s Ronan Foxe is in the Munster academy having joined after helping the Irish 20s to a World Cup final in 2023, while Evan O’Connell captained the same age-grade side last season.
New Zealand-born, Irish qualified flanker Sean Jansen is another player that the Irish coaches want to take a closer look at, while Ethan Coughlan, Jack Murphy and Jude Postlethwaite will provide the backline cover.
The Pumas enjoyed several wins in their recent Currie Cup campaign as well as taking some heavy beatings, but they will pose a serious physical challenge in the set piece and contact areas, while also possessing serious pace out wide.
No one expects a pitch-perfect performance from a scratch Ireland side but if they can manage reasonable cohesion there is plenty of talent to maximise that platform. They might have to hang on for dear life in the scrum a little but that is just one of the many challenges that will make this game interesting to watch.
PUMAS: T Swanepoel; L Msenge, T Pretorius, C Swart, D Adonis; D Visagie, R Gora; E Janeke, J-Henning Campher, S Swiegers; H Theunisson, D Slabbert; N Fisanti, A Fouche, K Dimaza.
Replacements: D Osuagwu, D Maritz, E Swart, T de Klerk, M Mashimbyi, R Fredericks, W van Niekerk, P Sobahle.
EMERGING IRELAND: Ben O’Connor (UCC/Munster); Rob Russell (Dublin University/Leinster), Seán O’Brien (Clontarf/Munster), Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht), Zac Ward (Ballynahinch/Ulster/Ireland Sevens); Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), Matthew Devine (Corinthians/Connacht); Mark Donnelly (Cork Constitution/Munster), Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley/Leinster), Jack Aungier (Clontarf/Connacht); Harry Sheridan (Dublin University/Ulster), Darragh Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht); Cormac Izuchukwu (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Alex Kendellen (UCC/Munster) (capt), James Culhane (UCD/Leinster).
Replacements: Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster), Alex Usanov (Clontarf/Leinster), Ronan Foxe (Garryowen/Munster), Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemian/Munster), Sean Jansen (Connacht), Ethan Coughlan (Shannon/Munster), Jack Murphy (Clontarf/Ulster), Jude Postlethwaite (City of Armagh/Ulster).
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