ROB HERRING IS perhaps the most unlucky Irish player to miss out on the matchday 23 for Saturday’s World Cup battle with South Africa.
The Ulster hooker has been in excellent form but he will have to watch from the stands after head coach Andy Farrell brought Dan Sheehan back into his squad.
In fairness, Sheehan’s body of work is unquestionable and now that he has recovered from the foot injury that had kept him sidelined since the warm-up clash with England last month, he’s reintegrated.
Sheehan will be used off the bench against the Springboks as Rónan Kelleher continues as Ireland’s starting hooker in a team that Farrell is very happy with.
The only change to the starting XV sees Jamison Gibson-Park return at scrum-half after sitting out last week’s win over Tonga.
“Bit of continuity, it’s a good side,” said Farrell today at Ireland’s team hotel to the east of Paris, “one that’s ready to take on the world champions.
“Dan Sheehan is fit and raring to go. He’s in good condition, he’s a world-class hooker in my opinion and he gets his chance.”
Conor Murray reverts to the bench with Gibson-Park back at number nine. Again, given what the latter has done over the last few seasons, it’s an understandable decision.
“Just being himself, the form he’s produced for us time after time throughout his time as an Irish international,” said Farrell of what he wants to see from Gibson-Park against the Boks.
“The pace and the skillset he brings, it’s something we all enjoy watching.”
Farrell has stuck with Ireland’s 5/3 bench split of forwards and backs, despite the Springboks opting for the 7/1 strategy that will allow them to replace nearly the entire starting forward pack.
The Ireland boss said he didn’t consider changing his approach at all and welcomed the Boks’ plan.
“It’s great,” said Farrell. “It obviously suits them, they know their squad and so do we.
“I did pose the question to our forwards coaches, would we do a 7/1 split with seven backs and one forward but they wouldn’t do it!
“It shows exactly where they want to go with their game plan. We’re the same with some of the stuff that we do as well.”
This game feels much bigger than a pool game usually would. It’s possible for either side to lose and still go through to the quarter-finals.
And Farrell himself pointed out that this isn’t knock-out rugby yet.
“It’s not a must-win,” said the Ireland boss. “It’s not a do-or-die type of game, but it’s pretty important to both teams, let’s put it that way.
“It’s always nice to win but I suppose we’ve always looked at ourselves mainly as the performance is concerned, so it’s a big game.
“There will be over 30,000 Irish supporters there in a stadium we know well and we want to get back there and get back to winning ways there. It’s a challenge that we’re ready for and looking forward to and it’s coming soon.”
